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COPflyGHT DEPOSm 



San Antonio de Bexar 

Historical, Traditional, Legendary 



Copyrighted, 1916 

by 
Mrs. S. J. Wright. 



SAN ANTONIO DE 
BEXAR 

Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 

An Epitome of Early Texas History 
-BY- 

MRS. S. J. WRIGHT 

Past-President Texas Federation of Womens' Clubs 
Chairman History Committee T. F. W. C. 



Illustrated With Drawings by J. M. Longmire 
from Rare Photographs 



PUBLISHED BY 
MORGAN PRINTING CO., AUSTIN, TEXAS 






CONTENTS. 
Preface. ♦ 

Saint Anthony of Padua — (San Antonio). 
Chapter. Page 

I. Spanish Expeditions to the Land of the 

Tejas 1 

II. The First Settlement of San Antonio ... 9 

III. San Fernando, Capital of the Province 

of Texas 16 

IV. Development 22 

V. Battle, Murder, and Sudden Death 28 

VI. Rehabilitation 35 

VII. Revolution 48 

VIII. A Beleaguered Mission 55 

IX. Aftermath 63 

X. The Republic of Texas 71 

XI. History of ''The Child of the Alamo" 

Speeches, The Famous ' ' Speeches " . . 80 

XII. Military San Antonio 88 

XIII. Mrs. French's Reminiscences of Early 

Days in Bexar 96 

XIV. Modern San Antonio 101 

XV. The San Antonio River — Its Acequias 

and Legends 115 

XVI. Landmarks of Old San Antonio 128 

XVII. Landmarks of San Antonio's Environs — 

The Missions 141 

XVIII. The San Antonio Mission Era — Develop- 
ment, Decline and Close 158 



AUG -S 1917 



©CI.A4708I0 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Alamo Buildings when the Battle Ended 

Frontispiece 

Page 

Mission San Juan before restoration 12 

San Fernando Cathedral 20 

Historic Old '^Quinta" 29 

Remains of Arches, Mission San Jose 36 

Veramendi Palace 40 

Mission Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion 45 

Acequia 58 

Seal on Boundary Treaty between United States 
and Republic of Texas 78 

Home of Early German Settler 105 

Old Landmark 129 

A Jacal in ^'Little Mexico" 133 

Granary in Court of Mission San Jose 149 

Mission San Juan de Capistrano 152 

Mission San Francisco de la Espada 157 

Door of Mission San Jose 160 



PREFACE. 



The early history of San Antonio de Bexar, the old- 
est city, and for many years the capital of Texas, is, 
broadly speaking, an epitome of the history of our 
State from the founding of the first mission to the 
founding of the Republic. 

It was when gleaning from many authoritative 
sources, material for ''The District of Bexar," Part 
II of the work now in preparation, "Texas: Histor- 
ical, Traditional, Legendary," that this fact became 
evidenced. My attention was then withdrawn from 
all other portions of the District of Bexar and con- 
centrated on San Antonio. The wonder of her his- 
tory, the richness of her legendary and traditions, en- 
title San Antonio to a volume consecrated to the 
story of her development and her fascination. 

The contents of this volume, abridged as regards 
distinctly local events, and extended in those relating 
to the State at large, will be incorporated within the 
next six months, into Volume I of " Texas : Historical, 
Traditional, Legendary." This latter work is being 
edited and compiled by myself as Chairman of the 
History Committee of the Texas Federation of Wom- 



en's Clubs, and is indorsed by that organization. 
Many club women, as well as many other loyal Tex- 
ans, both men and women, have rendered able assist- 
ance in securing local data for this work, and to them 
it will be gratefully dedicated. 

The contents of this volume on San Antonio do 
Bexar, to be absolutely authentic, could not have been 
published at an earlier date. It is to Professor Her- 
bert E. Bolton, formerly of the University of Texas, 
but now of the University of California, that our 
State is indebted, thi'ough his recent ''Texas in the 
Middle Eighteenth Century," for the history of an 
epoch hitherto considered uninteresting and unimpor- 
tant, because unknoT^Ti. For the greater part of thir- 
teen years Professor Bolton burrowed in archives of 
Mexico, Texas and Western Louisiana, therein dis- 
covering the lost and scattered records of that neg- 
lected period. From these he has prepared an ex- 
haustive narrative which it has been my good fortune 
to secure and use as a most valuable volume of ref- 
erence. 

Professor Bolton's ''Native Tribes Around the East 
Texas Missions" is our authority for the location of 
early Texas missions, while the chief reference for 
this period, historically, is Clark's "The Beginnings 
of Texas," especially recommended by Professor Bol- 
ton for this work, supplemented by the latter 3 



** Notes'^ on this monograph, which gives the latest 
researches into the Texas archives of this period. 

Other authorities for other epochs are Yoakum's 
and John Henry Brown's ''History of Texas," Bar- 
ker, Potts & Ramsdell's " School History of Texas,'' — 
the last for brief chronological reference — and some 
local contributions accredited in the body of this 
book. 

It is hoped and believed that the demand for a 
convenient and reliable work on San Antonio de 
Bexar, containing the latest authoritative researches, 
though in miniature, will be met by the production of 
this volume. 

Mrs. S. J. Wright. 
Paris, Texas, September 9, 1916. 



SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA. 

(San Antonio.) 



The life of the patron saint for whom San Antonio 
de Bexar was named, contains that peculiar inter- 
mingling of history and legend which betokens the im- 
agery of the mediaeval mind. "We know that he was 
born in Lisbon in 1195 ; that he died at Padua thirty- 
six years later, and was canonized in 1232 by Pope 
Gregory IX. 

At the age of twenty-five he entered the Franciscan 
order and shortly afterward, having seen conveyed to 
the church of Santa Croce the bodies of the first fif- 
teen martyrs who had suffered death at Morocco, he 
became inflamed with a desire for martyrdom and 
started for Africa filled with holy zeal. But the 
scroll of his life had not prescribed this sacrifice. 
Later he was sent to the hermitage of Montepaola 
(near Forli) to celebrate mass for the lay brothers. 
While living thus in retirement, it came to pass that 
a number of Franciscan and Dominican friars were 
sent together to Forli for ordination. When the time 
arrived for this ceremony it was found that no one 
had been appointed to preach. Every one declining — 
being unprepared — Anthony, finally turned to, was 
compelled by obedience to consent. He first spoke 
slowly and timidly, but soon became enkindled with 
fervor and explained the most hidden sense of the 
Holy Scriptures with such erudition and sublime doc- 
trine that all were struck with astonishment, espec- 
ially as his extreme modesty had prevented him from 



making known previously his profound knowledge of 
sacred writings. 

His public career dated from that moment. 
The silver-tongued eloquence with w^hich he pro- 
claimed the beauty of a seraphic character cor- 
responding to the spiritual ideal of St. Francis, 
coupled with his fervor in putting aside all doctrinal 
speculations, made him a powerful force in the ex- 
tinction of heresy. He possessed a mighty gift of 
miracles. Among those attributed to him was that 
of the poisoned food which had been set before him 
at Himini by the Italian heretics, and which he rend- 
ered innocuous by the sign of the cross. Another is 
that of the fishes to whom he is said to have preached, 
finding that the people would not listen to him, and 
who turned willing ears to his words. This occasion 
caused him to be made the patron saint of all animals, 
as well as the fish of the sea and the fowls of the air. 
At Padua occurred the famous miracle of the ampu- 
tated foot. A young man, Leonardo, in a fit of anger 
kicked his own mother. Repentant, he confessed to 
Father Anthony, who said, ''The foot of him who 
kicks his own mother deserves to be cut off. ' ' There- 
upon Leonardo ran home and cut off his foot. Learn- 
ing of this Father Anthony took the amputated mem- 
ber of the unfortunate youth and miraculously re- 
joined it. 

Existing documents do not decide the question as 
to the locality where appeared the apparition of the 
infant Jesus to the holy monk. But the fact — or 



legend — has made and perpetuated liim the protector 
of all little children. 

Aside from other gifts he possessed that of proph- 
ecy, with which he made the subject matter of his 
sermons more popular in spite of the fact that in 
them he had to fight against the three obstinate vices 
of luxury, avarice and tyranny. 

Immediately after death he appeared at Ver- 
eelli to the abbot, Thomas GoUo, and his death was 
also announced to the citizens of Padua, by a troop 
of children crying, ''The Holy Father is dead! St. 
Anthony is dead ! ' ' The citizens of Padua erected to 
his memory a magnificent temple to which his precious 
relics were transferred in 1263, 

The name of St. Anthony, patron saint of an early 
Texas mission, has been locally perpetuated through 
the work of friar and soldier — San Antonio de Valero, 
the old mission known to this generation only as ' ' The 
Alamo," and San Antonio de Bexar, its adjacent pre- 
sidio and protection, having given their common name 
to that of the ancient capital and present metropolis 
of our State, once called the villa of San Fernando, 
now the city of San Antonio. 



KEY TO SPANISH PRONUNCIATION. 



a has the sound of ah j has the sound of h 

e has the sound of ay o has the sound of oh 

i has the sound of ee u has the sound of oo 

c is sounded like k, except before i and e when it 
is sounded like thay. This has become Mexicanized 
in Texas, however, into s, as in the proper name 
Garcitas, for example, which is pronounced Gar-5ee- 
tas not Gar47iee-tas. 

g has the sound of g in garden at the beginning of 
a word ; elsewhere, it has the sound of h. 

h is silent. 11 is sounded like Hi in million. 

n is sounded like ny in lanyard. 

hua is sounded like wa in water. 

z is sounded like th in thank. 

y as a connective is sounded like ee. 



SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR: 

Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 
CHAPTER I. - 



SPANISH EXPEDITIONS TO THE LAND OF 
THE TEJAS. 

The Site of La SaUe's Colony— Origin of the Name 
''Texas" — Father Massanet — Founding of the First 
Texas Mission— French Enterprise and Aggression 
—Discovery of the Source of the San Antonio River 
—A New Objective Point of Occupancy. 



A people resembling the Spaniards in color, had 
landed in the year 1684 on the coast of the Gulf of 
Mexico, not far from the Rio Grande. This infor- 
mation was gained by Fray Damian Massanet,* a 
Franciscan missionary lately come out from Spain 
and residing in the mission of Caldera in Coahuila, 
from an Indian of the Quems nation. By him it was 
conveyed to Don Alonzo de Leon, commandant of the 
Presidio of Coahuila, who made it known to the Count 
of Monclova, Spanish Viceroy of Mexico. 

In obedience to a decree of Philip of Spain that 
no foreigners should enter the waters of the gulf on 
pain of death, orders were given at once to De Leon 



♦Or Manzanet. 



2 San Antonio de Bexar 

to penetrate the country with such troops as he could 
gather from the garrisons of Monclova and Sal til lo, 
and drive out whatever foreigners he might find, tak- 
ing with him Fray Massanet as chaplain. 

De Leon, under orders from Marquis de Aguayo, 
governor of the new kingdom of Leon, had already 
made two unsuccessful expeditions to find the Bay of 
Espiritu Santo (Matagorda Bay) and its rumored 
colonists. This time his efforts were more effectual. 
Leaving Monclova, March 23rd, 1689, accompanied by 
a party of about eighty, with the Quems Indian as 
guide, they crossed the Rio Grande and passed over 
broad stretches of prairie broken with occasional hills 
and varied with dense thickets of mesquite and thorny 
shrubs. Continuing on their way they crossed and 
named the rivers Nueces, Sarco (Frio), Hondo, Me- 
dina and Leon (San Antonio). On April 22nd, they 
reached the village and fort of Saint Louis,* on the 
Garcitas River near the shore of Lavaca Bay where 
La Salle had attempted to plant his colony. The 
place was deserted and presented a scene of devasta- 
tion — the work of Indians less than three months be- 
fore. De Leon's task was already performed — the 
settlement had been destroyed, the bay discovered. 

De Leon and Massanet then went as far east as the 
Colorado River where they were met by the chief of 



*"In the discovery of lost sites, I count as my cardinal joy the 
identification of the location of La Salle's fort, on the Garcitas 
River, near the shores of Lavaca Bay." — Bolton, in the Preface 
of "Texas in the Middle 18th Century." 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 3 

the Nabedache, the westernmost of the Hasinai, or 
Texas* tribes. After a short conference, they ar- 
ranged to return the following year to found a mis- 
sion for his people. True to this promise, and with 
the co-operation of the government, they returned in 
1690 with a party, going still further eastward until 
the nearest village of the Texas (Hasinai) confed- 
eracy, near the Neches River, was reached. In the 
middle of this Nabedache village, surrounded by a 
savage wilderness and three hundred miles from any 
settlement, they founded the first mission in Spanish 
Texas, t naming it San Francisco de los Tejas.J Near- 
er the Neches, but not far distant, was established 
later in the year by the friars left at the first mission, 
the second mission of that region. El Santisimo Nom- 
bre de Maria. 

The successful establishment by Fray Massanet of 
a mission among the Tejas tribes, stimulated both 
the political and spiritual authorities of Mexico, to 
renewed enterprise. A third expedition much more 



*From this Indian tribe the name of our State of Texas is de- 
rived. This word, variously spelled by the early writers, had 
wide currency among the tribes of Eastern Texas, and perhaps 
over a large area; its usual meaning was "friends", or more 
technically, "allies". The Texas included tribes who spoke differ- 
ent languages and were widely separated. Some of these tribes 
did not apply the term restrictively to themselves as a name, but 
used it as a form of greeting, like "Hello, friend," with which 
they even saluted Spaniards after their advent ... I may 
say in this connection, that the meanings, "land of flowers", "tiled 
roofs," "presidio," etc., sometimes given for the name Texas, 1 
have never seen suggested by early observers, or by any one on 
the basis of trustworthy evidence. — Bolton, in "Native Tribes 
About the East Texas Missions". 

fEl Paso being in what was then New Mexico. — Bolton. 

$For the exact location of the missions referred to in this 
chapter, see Chapter XVII. 



4 San Antonio de Bexar 

extensive was planned for the following year to be 
commanded by Don Domingo Teran de los Rios, gov- 
ernor of Coahuila and Texas. After reaching the 
Tejas village with his soldiers, flocks, herds, and sup- 
plies brought for the support of the mission, and de- 
livering presents and messages from the viceroy to the 
governor and captain of the nation, Teran proceeded 
with due formality to constitute out of the lands of 
the Tejas tribes, the New Kingdom of Nueva Mon- 
tafia de Santander y Santillana. But Teran 's expe- 
dition failed to accomplish the primary purpose for 
which it set out — the general occupation by Spain of 
the lands toward the northeast through the establish- 
ment of missions. The practical obstacles in the way 
of carrying out the missionary enterprise, together 
with the lack of harmony between the spiritual and 
military leaders of the expedition, prevented the es- 
tablishment of even one of the eight missions contem- 
plated. Massanet and the missionaries left with him, 
continued their efforts at San Francisco and Santa 
Maria, but the work did not prosper. 

There being no longer any political reason for main- 
taining settlements beyond the Rio Grande — the alarm 
of a French occupation having passed, and the reports 
of Fray Massanet indicating the difficulties of his sit- 
uation, the Spanish government instructed the priests 
to retire from the missions. Fray Massanet and a 
few padres and soldiers, after burying their swivel 
guns, the bells, and other iron implements, abandoned 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 5 

the missions and returned to Coahuila. Thus the 
Province of Nueva Montana was left for twenty years 
to the undisturbed possession of the Indian tribes, to 
await until another and more serious menace to their 
authority in the lands east of the Rio Grande, should 
stimulate the rulers of New Spain to a saner and 
more determined effort to make good their title to 
that region by the fact of actual occupation. 

In 1715, however, a new condition of affairs pre- 
sented itself. For many years the French had con- 
cerned themselves but little about the territorial 
claims of Spain to the Western world, nor was her 
right disputed to whatever lands she might desire, but 
finally French enterprise and aggression reached out 
across the vast wilderness of Texas, and knocking at 
the barred door of Mexico, aroused the Spaniards 
from their lethargy and set in motion their friars and 
soldiers to re-establish their missions among the Tejas 
Indians, and to make a permanent occupation of their 
lands in the New Philippines.* 

In September, 1712, the Sieur Antoine Crozat re- 
ceived from his king, Louis XIV, a grant of a mo- 
nopoly of the trade of Louisiana for a period of fif- 
teen years. This document attempted for the first 
time to define the limits of Louisiana, — the country 
watered by the Mississippi River and its tributaries, 
and included between the English of Carolina on the 



*A name given in honor of Philip of Spain, but the name Texas 
had become so firmly fixed in the Spanish mind that Nuevas Phil- 
ippinas soon fell into disuse. — Fxilmore, "History and Geography 
of Texas as Told in County Names." 



6 San Antonio de Bexar 

east and New Mexico on the west. As a result, Louis 
Juchereau de Saint-Denis, French trader, with 
twenty-four men, and as msmy Indians as necessary, 
was dispatched to Mexico City seeking to open the 
way for a profitable traffic in French merchandise 
with the markets of Coahuila and Nuevo Leon. Ex- 
periencing many thrilling adventures, he passed 
through the land of the Tejas and crossed the San An- 
tonio River, that brave stream on whose banks so 
much of the early history of the Province was soon to 
be enacted. Here he found an Indian village and 
remarking the spot, observed it was very suitable for 
a village and worthy a good presidio. 

Finally in June, 1715, Saint-Denis arrived with his 
valet de chamhre at the City of Mexico from Mon- 
clova, conducted thither by a detachment of soldiers 
under orders from the government of Coahuila. As 
a result of the audiencies to which he was called by 
the viceroy, it was determined by the council, which 
met in August, that because of this French incursion 
the commerce of the north was threatened with des- 
truction, and valuable mines were liable to immediate 
danger of being possessed by the encroaching French. 
Here was an emergency that demanded imperative 
action, and aroused the government of Mexico to set 
in motion its slow, cumbrous mission-presidio process 
of occupation and colonization. 

On February 17th, 1716, Don Domingo Ramon, cap- 
tain of the soldiers and leader of the new expedition, 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 7 

«et out from the villa de Saltillo with Saint-Denis, 
who had evidently made a favorable impression, chief 
guUe and interpreter. In addition to the military 
and religious contingencies, there were two men with 
iamilies, also some unmarried men and w^omen, and 
others, constituting a total of sixty-five persons. On 
April 27th. they left the Rio Grande and were con- 
ducted by Saint-Denis over a more northern route 
than any previously taken, which led them on the 
14th of May to some springs at the source of the San 
Antonio River to which they gave the name of San 
Pedro. Captain Ramon noted the spot as one most 
suitable for the building of a city, and Fray Espinosa, 
president of the Queretaro Missions around San Juan 
on the Rio Grande, who was accompanying the friars, 
saw in it a suitable site for a mission. The San Zavier 
River (San Gabriel of today), was visited and named 
on June 1st ; Brushy Creek, its principal tributary was 
twice crossed and given the name of Arroya de las 
Benditas Animas (Creek of the Blessed Souls), which 
it bore almost continuously throughout Spanish days.* 
On June 20th they came to the Hasinai village 
where the first mission of San Francisco de los Tejas 
had been built; a spot four leagues! further inland 
was selected by the Indians themselves for the loca- 
tion of the new mission, San Francisco de los Neches. 
Other missions were soon established, three on the 



*"lt will be seen that this expedition, led by Saint Denis, did 
not by any means follow the 'Old San Antonio Road' of later 
days." — Bolton. 

fOne Spanish league equivalent to two miles. 



8 San Antonio de Bexar 

road by which the French had made their incursions 
into Texas. Of these established by the Zacatecan 
friars, with that of Concepcion nominated the capital, 
Fray Antonio MargiP* de Jesus was made president, 
with Fray Isidore Felix de Espinosa president of the 
Queretaran missions, among them that of San Jose. 
It was agreed between the two presidents, that each 
religious fraternity should draw its converts from the 
tribes in its own immediate territory, that there might 
be no conflicts. 

The expedition of Ramon, having found the rivals 
of Spain settled upon Red River and facing aggres- 
sively westward, showed the Spanish government that 
to tvithdraw again meant to abandon Texas to the 
French. But to make permanent the missions estab- 
lished among the Tejas tribes it was necessary to go 
farther, to extend the sphere of occupation, and to 
make a greater show of strength. To this end and 
chief in the plans of Spain, was the early establish- 
ment of a mission and presidio on the San Antonio 
River, a half-way house between the remote settle- 
ments on the Neches and Sabine and the outlying^ 
settlements of Mexico. 

There must now be no retreat ; that spot at the head 
of the San Antonio River, which had been observed 
so commendingly by Saint-Denis, Don Ramon, and 
Espinosa was soon to be the objective point of a new 
expedition. 



♦Padre Margil joined the expedition after it left the Rio- 
Grande, he being too ill at the time to accompany it. — Clark. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 
CHAPTER II. 



THE FIRST SETTLERS OF SAN ANTONIO. 

Alarcon's Expedition — Villa, Mission and Presidio at 
the "Head of the River" — Route of the Aguayo 
Expedition — Abandonment of the East Texas Mis- 
sions — Re-establishment — San Fernando of the Ca- 
nary Islanders — A Permanent Texas Settlement. 



To the Spaniards of that day two years were but 
as yesterday. At the end of 1716 all preparations 
seemed to be made for the eiitrada (expedition) into 
the province of Texas which was to repel the advance 
of the French and to better control the Indians of the 
missions. It was not until March, 1718, however, that 
Don Martin de Alar con, leader, with the title of lieu- 
tenant-general of the province of Texas, or the Nuevas 
Filippinas, was ready to receive formal orders and in- 
structions prior to departure. Among other orders 
was one requiring that a place be selected as a 
capital for the province in which there should be 
erected strong houses of stone for the soldiers' quar- 
ters. It was also ordered that a villa be established 
on the banks of the San Antonio, in proximity to the 
missions to be established, which must consist of not 
less than thirty inhabitants, citizens and soldiers, who 
should be accorded all the privileges in lands, waters, 
and pastures which the royal laws granted. 



10 San Antonio de Bexar 

Fray Antonio Olivares, experienced in missionary^ 
work among the Indians, acquainted with the tribes 
and country beyond the Rio Grande, and provided 
with a well worked out plan for founding a mission of 
his own, had charge of the friars of this expedition. 
A few months later the party, composed of fifty per- 
sons, including soldiers, missionaries, mechanics and 
families, arrived at the head waters of the San Anto- 
nio River, where ''in the most pleasant place in the 
province of Texas," was founded Sa7i Antonio de los^ 
Llanos. This establishment consisted of a village 
named Yilla de Bejar, a presidio. Sun Antonio de 
Bejar, and by its side, a mission called in honor of 
the viceroy, San Antonio de Valero — later known as. 
''The Alamo." To this latter Fray Olivares trans- 
ferred the Jarami Indians from the mission San Fran- 
cisco Solano, which he had founded in the northern 
part of Coahuila. The villa soon had as many as 
thirty families, and the mission a large number of 
Indian residents, which Alarcon left — under protec- 
tion of the presidio, and in a peaceful and comfort- 
able condition, but destined not long to remain se- 
cure and in harmony. 

Not until the founding of this little colony on the 
San Antonio can Spanish occupation of Texas be con- 
sidered permanent. The six missions east of the 
Trinity, with the small quota of missionary fathers, 
a few soldiers, and an occasional half-breed family, 
were ever threatened by hostile Indians or the en- 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 11 

«roacliments of the French, but this settlement made 
it possible to retain them. So the Spaniards rested for 
a season from their expeditionary labors, — but the 
reason was doomed to be short. The next movement 
of occupation came in 1721, when war having been 
declared in 1719 between France and Spain, and 
French incursions being made into Spanish Texas, a 
more strenuous military policy was undertaken. The 
expedition led by the Marquis de Aguayo, governor- 
general of New Estremadura and the New Philippines, 
was better equipped, consisted of a larger body of 
men, and traveled a greater distance than any other 
sent out by Spain. This expedition crossed the Colo- 
rado Eiver near the mouth of Onion Creek, and fol- 
lowed a northward course which brought them across 
what is now Brushy Creek, the San Zavier (San Ga- 
briel) Eiver, Little River near Belton, thence to the 
Brazos about Waco ; thence in a southeasterly direc- 
tion to the Tejas tribes, where Aguayo re-established 
the missions which had been abandoned two years be- 
fore because of French incursions. It was this expedi- 
tion which determined the ownership of Texas — or of 
what is now Southern Texas — in favor of Spain. 

But these missions were again destined to abandon- 
ment. Espinosa himself recognized the dismal failure 
of attempting to civilize the Indians of the Hasinai 
settlements, into pueblos, built in close order. They 
determined to live in rancJios (separate houses) well 
apart from each other, each household seeking a place 



12 



San Antonio de Bexar 




Side View of Mission San Juan, before restoration. 



suitable for its crops and having a supply of water. 
Again, while events had justified the Spanish esti- 
mate of the importance of the Hasinai as a base of 
political operations, and their control had remained 
for a century or more a cardinal point in the politics 
of the Texas-Louisiana frontier, it was soon learned 
that the less and smaller tribes of the San Antonio 
River nearer Mexico and farther removed for the con- 
trary influence of the French, afforded a better field 
for missionary labors. It was these causes which 
brought about the abandonment in 1729, after fifteen 
years of effort, of all but one of the missions of the 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 13 

group, and the re-establishment of San Francisco, 
Concepcion, and San Jose to the San Antonio River, 
in the environs of what is our modern San Antonio. 

The padres, after Aguayo left Texas in 1722, contin- 
ued their labors under great disadvantages, and finally 
despaired of success in making permanent settlements 
unless they could induce the government to send out 
more people to furnish to the Indians an example of 
life they were expected to lead, and to teach them the 
most necessary arts. 

The first officially recognized civil settlement* in 
Texas was the villa\ of San Fernando de BexarJ 
founded in 1731 by a group of Canary Islanders. 
Several new features appeared in the plan for the 
establishment of this villa. Hitherto the arrangement 
for the settlement of families had been worked out by 
the missionaries, the orders issued by the viceroy, and 
all families brought in, natives of Mexico. Now the 
idea was taken up by the king; all the orders were 
issued by him at the suggestion of the Marquis de 
Aguayo, and all families were to be brought from the 

*The information in this chapter relative to the early settle- 
ment of San Antonio and its preliminaries, is a brief sum- 
mary of an article by Miss M. A. Austin (Mrs. Hatcher), entitled 
"The Municipal Government of San Fernando de Bexar," in Vol. 
VIII, No. 4, of Texas State Historical Association's Quarterly, 
founded on original records in Bexar archives, translated by 
Miss Austin. 

tin Texas the term "villa" seems to have been applied exclu- 
sively to corporate towns. San Fernando, the only settlement 
possessing a municipal government during the period of Spanish 
rule, was the only place thus designated. — M. A. Austin. 

JNamed in honor of Ferdinand III, king of Castile and Leon, 
who died in 1252 and was canonized four centuries later, — and in 
honor of the Duke of Bexar, second son of Philip of Spain, then 
ruling sovereign. 



14 San Antonio de Bexar 

Canary Islands (a Spanish possession). Their trans- 
portation and maintenance for one year, were to be 
at the government's expense. In response to this de- 
cree, a few people, numbering bnt ten families at the 
beginning, started out from the Canary Islands. 
Within a month their number was increased through 
marriage, to fifteen families. The heads of these 
families were Juan Leal Goras, the oldest among them 
and the leader; Juan Curbelo; Juan Leal Jr., An- 
tonio Santos, Joseph Padron, Manuel de Niz, Vin- 
cente Alvarez Travieso, Salvador Rodriguez, Joseph 
Cabrera, Maria Rodriguez Provayna, Mariano Me- 
lano, and four single men, Philip de Armas, Joseph 
Antonio Perez, Martin Lorenzo de Armas, and Ig- 
nacio Lorenzo de Armas, constituting a total of fifty- 
six persons and fifteen families, or sixteen families if 
unmarried men be counted as one family. 

These immigrants reached Bexar at eleven 
o'clock, March 9th, 1731. A dispatch from the 
the viceroy had authorized the governor of the 
province, Don Juan Antonio Bustillo y Zevallos, 
or in case of his absence, the captain of 
the presidio of San Antonio, as soon as the families 
should arrive, to 'Hake such persons of intelligence 
as may be available to examine the site a gunshot's 
distance to the western side of the presidio where 
there is a slight elevation forming a plateau suitable 
for founding a very fine settlement. On account of 
the location it will have the purest air, and the fresh- 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 15 

est of water flowing from two springs or natural for- 
mations, situated on a small hill a short distance from 
the presidio of Bexar." According to this dispatch 
boundaries were to be measured and marked out, and 
lands and water assigned ; streets laid off, town blocks, 
the main plaza,* the site for a church, the priest's 
house and other buildings, all marked as therein des- 
ignated. Directions were also given whereby the 
dwellings might be made beautiful and adapted for 
defense, cleanliness and healthfulness. 

The new municipality was to be governed by a city 
council or caMldo\ whose duties were the adminis- 
tration of justice and the protection of the interests 
of the commonwealth. All orders for the appoint- 
ment of the members of this body were issued long 
before the ''Islenos" arrived. Although there were 
other settlers already at Bexar, remnant of the col- 
ony of 1718, which, harassed by Indians and unable 
to support itself, had dwindled to but a handful, 
to whom should have been given a share in the 
municipal government of the newly-founded villa, 
practically in the earlier years this was not the case. 
In July, 1731, Don Juan Antonio Perez de Almazan, 
captain of the presidio of Bexar and justice mayor 
of the villa, named from among the Islenos all the of- 
ficer's except two alcaldes. But it was not until Octo- 



*This plaza constituted the center of the settlement and is the 
Main Plaza of modern San Antonio. 
fLater known as the ayuntamiento . 



16 San Antonio de Bexar 

ber 24th, 1731, that a completely organized municipal 
government was established, the only civil community 
in the province. 



CHAPTER III. 



SAN FERNANDO DE BEXAR, CAPITAL OF 
THE PROVINCE OF TEXAS. 

Texas as an Administrative Unit — The First Lawsuit 
in Texas — A Boundary Line of Contention — A Cor- 
don of Strongholds, Texas to California — Early 
Educational Efforts in San Fernando. 



Texas as an administrative unit was a part of New 
Spain. In civil and military affairs the province was 
subject directly to the viceroy and the Aiidiencia of 
Mexico, and in ecclesiastical matters, to the arch- 
bishop of Guadalajara. The government, apart from 
the missions, was almost wholly military, the center 
and defense of the western settlements being the pre- 
sidio of San Antonio de Bexar. 

The official head of the province was the governor, 
who as a rule, was a professional soldier as well as 
professional office-holder. By a decree of 1727, sep- 
arate governors were appointed for Texas, the capital 
being located at Los Adaes, a military post fifteen 
miles west of Red River and facing the French settle- 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 17 

ment at Natchitoches. The governor exercised both 
civil and military authority, being gohernador and 
capitan general of the province, as well as captain of 
the presidio at Los Adaes. In the half century be- 
tween 1731 and 1780, Texas had thirteen governors 
and governors ad interim. Their contemporary re- 
nown depended much upon the views of partisan 
writers. When Governor Manuel de Sandoval took 
office in 1734, he removed his official residence from 
Los Adaes to San Fernando and strengthened the gar- 
rison at that place, both steps being necessary because 
of the depredations of the Apaches. 

In 1736 commenced the famous litigation case of 
Franquis versus Sandoval, wherein Don Carlos Fran- 
quis having been appointed to supersede Governor 
Sandoval, a captain and veteran office-holder, pro- 
ceeded to have the latter arrested on various charges, 
among them that he had removed his capital to San 
Fernando, — apparently, however, through official in- 
structions; that he was irregular in his accounts 
with the San Antonio garrison, and that he had dis- 
charged certain missionaries and appropriated their 
stipends. Another charge, the beginning of a long 
controversy between France and Spain relative to the 
eastern boundary of Texas, accused Sandoval of cul- 
pability in the matter of changing the accepted boun- 
dary between Natchitoches and Los Adaes. These 
latter discussions were all local or within the respec- 
tive governments, no attempts being made between 



18 San Antonio de Bexar 

the home governments of Spain and France to settle 
the matter. After much litigation and several re- 
versed decisions, Sandoval was finally acquitted of all 
charges and Franquis enjoined from proceeding fur- 
ther against him. 

The documents transmitted to Spain relative to the 
proceedings of this first law suit in the history of 
Texas, filled thirty volumes of manuscript. In them 
San Antonio is called San Antonio de Ye jar o Valero; 
the name San Antonio de Bexar seems to have be- 
come attached particularly to the presidio, the mis- 
sion and pueblo being called San Antonio de Valero, 
while the villa was known as San Fernando. 

The original Texas was the territory of the Hasinai 
(Texas) Indians, between the Trinity and Ked Rivers, 
and included much of what is now Louisiana. Early 
in the eighteenth century the boundaries were extend- 
ed westward to include the settlements on the San An- 
tonio River and Matagorda Bay. With the founding 
of the Province of Nueva Santander in 1746, the 
western boundary of Texas was officially fixed at the 
lower Medina, the interior limits being indefinite. 
Later in the century, the Nueces, in part of its extent, 
became regarded as the boundarj^ 

In 1767, Governor Hugo Oconor strengthened the 
garrison at the capital. So bad were Indian hostili- 
ties there that when Baron Juan Maria Ripperda ar- 
rived as governor in 1770, some of the citizens had 
abandoned the place and others were about to follow. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 19 

In 1773, the Spanish government, having decided it 
would be a wise policy to give back to nature and the 
Indians some of its imaginary possessions and make 
more secure its real ones, the defenses of San Antonio 
de Bexar, among others, were strengthened under or- 
ders to Ripperda; under him also, the northeastern 
frontier was ordered depopulated, and the exiles to be 
removed to Bexar. 

Through the same decree the frontier presidios were 
rearranged in such a way as to form a cordon of 
strongholds, placed forty leagues apart in an irregu- 
lar line between Bahia del Espirito Santo on the San 
Antonio River in Texas, and Alta, near the head of 
the Gulf of California, El Paso del Norte on the route, 
with San Antonio de Bexar and Santa Fe as outposts. 
In spite of their venerable antiquity and relative pro- 
pinquity, no direct avenue of communication had been 
possible between San Antonio and Santa Fe, because 
of the hostilities of the intervening Indian tribes, but 
with the establishment of peace with the Comanches 
the execution of such a project was made practical. 
It was Pedro (Pierre) Vial, a Frenchman commis- 
sioned by Governor Domingo Cabello of Texas, who 
explored in 1786, the first route between these two 
places. 

Meanwhile San Fernando, the official capital of 
Texas, still isolated on the dangerous frontier, was 
retarded in growth by Indian depredations on the 
outside and by poverty and oppression within. Not 



20 



San Antonio de Bexar 



^s 



JAh 







Rear view of original San Fernando Cathedral, 
until 1789 was there any sign of an educational awak- 
ening. At this time the cahildo showed a willingness 
to promote the establishment of a school, which Don 
Jose Francisco de la Mata in a petition saj^s he had 
opened a few years before, ' ' being led by pity for the 
ignorance of the youth of the villa ; ' ' but, as continued 
the case during the remainder of the century, little or 
no energy was displayed in keeping up the same. A 
school once established, the salary of the teachers was 
left unpaid in default of funds, and success further 
hampered by the failure of parents to support teach- 
ers in the matter of discipline or to cease the with- 
drawal of their children from school. Such was the 
miserable condition of the villa that it was doubtful 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 21 

if the citizens could pay the expenses of a teacher 
from Mexico and they had none in their midst — even 
if they could prevail upon a teacher to stay in such a 
decadent country.* 

The expeditions of Vial, of which there were 
four, may be said to close the half century of 
Texas history following the founding of San Fer- 
nando de Bexar and to bring to an end the first series 
of readjustments of the Texas frontier resulting di- 
rectly from the Louisiana cession of 1762. 

The end of the century found the Indian question 
still being agitated through missions and through 
wars, with little apparent benefit to either race, and 
the province as a whole having advanced but little 
over its condition of seventy-five years before. 

But at least Texas had in San Fernando one per- 
manent settlement, a capital and a municipality, 
which served as headquarters and a place of refuge 
for any and all of her settlers. 



* "Educational Efforts in San Fernando," by I. J. Cox. — Texas 
Historical Association Quarterly, Vol, VI, No. 1. 



22 San Antonio de Bexar 

CHAPTER IV. 



DEVELOPMENT. 

The Nolan Expedition— The '^Neutral Ground"— The 
Louisiana Purchase and Texas — Magee's Expedi- 
tion — Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike — San Antonio 
in 1807— The Gachupin War— An Official Butchery 
—The Battle of Alazan. 



The beginning of the nineteenth century showed 
that Americans had already begun to take an interest 
in Texas, as evidenced by the expedition of Philip 
Nolan, for several years trader between Natchitoches 
and San Antonio. In the year 1800, the remainder 
of his ill-fated company, reduced to but eleven men, 
were brought manacled to San Antonio and impris- 
oned, to continue their weary waiting on the slow 
processes of Spanish law. 

At the close of 1806, Texas had reached a flourish- 
ing condition. The marching and display of many 
troops and the presence of many distinguished gen- 
erals, the force at San Antonio being temporarily in- 
creased by troops under General Don Antonio Cor- 
dero enroute to Natchitoches, — all this was occasioned 
by the dispute between Spain and the United States 
relative to the boundary between the two countries. 
Conflict had fortunately been avoided — all terri- 
tory between the Sabine and Arroya (creek) Hondo 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 23 

being declared ''Neutral Ground," and not until the 
matter could be permanently settled, should either 
Spain or the United States exercise authority there. 
New settlers were being rapidly introduced into 
Texas, as well as considerable wealth brought in, by 
immigrants, in consequence of the transfer of Louis- 
iana to the United States in 1803. All these causes 
seemed to impart life and an optimistic outlook to 
the province and its capital. The regular military 
force in Texas was a little short of a thousand men, 
nearly four hundred of whom were stationed at San 
Antonio. 

In 1807, Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike of the U. S. 
Army, passed through San Antonio under a military 
escort, having been apprehended by the Spaniards in 
New Mexico while on an expedition to explore the 
Arkansas and Red Eivers, and to treat with the 
Comanches, under orders from Governor Wil- 
kinson of Louisiana. His diary of this jour- 
ney speaks of San Antonio as being in a 
very prosperous state. True, the buildings were 
mostly adobe (sun-baked mud houses), yet the place 
was extensive. The troops were stationed on the 
east side of the river near the Mission San Antonio de 
Valero, under the care of Father Clement Delgado, 
while the old town had a separate curate. The popu- 
lation of Texas at this time was 7,000, of whom some 
5,000 lived in San Antonio, composed of Spaniards, 
Creoles, and a few French and Americans, also civ- 



24 San Antonio de Bexar 

ilized Indians and half-breeds. These latter were of 
wandering habits, most of them being engaged in 
hunting buffalo and wild cattle. To check in some de- 
gree this roving tendency, Governor Cordero re- 
strained the hunting of buffalo to a particular season 
and required every family to cultivate a certain quan- 
tity of land. 

Society had become greatly improved in San An- 
tonio by the officers of the army as well as new set- 
tlers. Among the leaders of fashion and polite so- 
ciety, next to the governor, were Father M'Guire, 
Doctor Zerbin, Captain Ugarte and his lady, and Col- 
onel Delgado. These attended to the hospitalities of 
the town and introduced among the inhabitants a 
suavity of manner and a fondness for social inter- 
course — but perchance, too great a love for frequent 
and prolonged card parties — which served much to 
make San Antonio by far the most pleasant place in 
Texas. At the governor's levees in the evening, or 
on the plaza where the people from the chief magis- 
trate down joined in the Mexican dance, there were 
'^ great cheerfulness, elegant manners, and much in- 
teresting conversation."* Society in Texas at this 
time allured Spaniards, many of whom had come from 
the polite cities of the mother country, or from the 
vice-regal palace in Mexico. The priests generally 
were men of good classical learning, as were many of 
the officers in the regular service. These set a good 



■Diary of Lieutenant Pike. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 25 

example of taste and elegance, which of course pro- 
duced its imitative effect on the Creoles and civilized 
Indians. Thus was the fierce temper of the frontier 
life guided and moderated. 

On occasions of religious festival so frequent in Ro- 
man Catholic countries, all ranks of the people par- 
ticipated with a hearty good will, though not always 
to their edification, or to the credit of the church. 

Early in the century the governor of the Province 
of Texas began to concern himself about education; 
possibly the leaven of Revillo Gigedo's public schools 
introduced at the capital during the previous decade, 
was just beginning to make itself felt in far-off Texas. 
But while residents of the community of San Fer- 
nando seemed to recognize the importance of having 
a few men of educational ability in their midst, those 
who with proper license could engage in public writ- 
ing, they evinced little co-operation with the gover- 
nor's efforts. The next educational awakening came 
during the revolutionary days of 1811. On January 
22nd, Juan Bautiste Casas overthrew the regular gov- 
ernment and proclaimed one favorable to Mexican 
revolutionists. His actions while in power displeased 
so many that the curate, Juan Manuel Zambrano or- 
ganized a counter-revolution and overthrew him, 
March 1st, 1811. Then Zambrano, with a junta* of 
eleven members, was selected by the principal inhabi- 
tants of San Fernando to administer the affairs of the 



*A congress, council, or tribunal. 



26 San Antonio de Bexar 

government and restore the royal authority. It was 
this junta that took measures to organize more thor- 
oughly a school system and provide for the building 
of a schoolhouse — the house of the teacher having 
been previously used for that purpose. As the new 
building approached completion, Jose Erasmo Seguin 
and Jose Antonio Salcedo reported a code of rules 
of government which suggested a beginning in the 
matter of public free education, which although a very 
modest one, cleared the ground for the educational 
structure of Texas. 

But, however bright the educational prospect^ 
for San Fernando may have appeared for the 
moment, they were destined to be speedily eclipsed 
by the dark days that followed, for at the close of the 
year 1812, the whole of New Spain was engaged in 
deadly strife. The Gachupin War was on. The roy- 
alists of Spain were in power. Only the year before 
the passers across the San Antonio River between the 
Alamo and Main Plaza had beheld a strange sight 
— the head of a man stuck on a pole in bloody menace 
to rebels. This head, only the day before had been on 
the shoulders of Colonel Delgado, flying adherent of 
Hidalgo in Mexico, — Hidalgo, initiator of a long line 
of Mexican revolutionists, who himself was put to 
death.* 

Many of the Republicans had become exiles, 
among them Bernardo Gutierres, a noted Mexican, 
who with Lieutenant Augustus Magee, had started 

*Hidalgo was executed at Chihuahua, August 1, 1811. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 27 

from the Neutral G-round with the ' ' Republican Army 
of the North," composed of exiles, Americans (peo- 
ple from the United States), and friendly Indians, 
on the famous Magee Expedition. Their object was 
ostensibly to free Texas from the Mexican yoke, — 
but once freed — did they not intend to keep it for 
themselves ? 

On April 1st, 1813, the army, after continued vic- 
tories, marched conquerors into San Antonio and the 
governor surrendered, Gutierres, who had headed 
the expedition, now assumed greater power. A 
few days later, by his authority, sixteen distinguished 
captives were marched out of San Antonio, among 
them Governor Salcedo of Texas, Governor Herrera 
of New Leon, Ex-governor Cordero, who not long be- 
fore had been holding levees in the capitol, several 
Spanish and Mexican officers, and one citizen. After 
going a short distance they were stopped and told to 
prepare for death. With fiendish delight the Mex- 
icans tied them all securely and cut their throats. 

Many of the Americans, considering their honor 
pledged for the safety of Salcedo and his companions, 
on hearing of this butchery, left the expedition. Their 
departure left an uncontrolled body of troops at San 
Antonio, who, fearing neither God nor man, indulged 
in many riotous and lawless pleasures. In June, how- 
ever, the royalist army marched on San Antonio un- 
der Don Ygnacio Elisondo, he who had betrayed Hi- 
dalgo two years before. But by encamping a short 



28 San Antonio de Bexar 

distance from the town at Alazan Creek, they thus 
gave the republicans time to recover from their con- 
fusion, and to anticipate the attack of the enemy. As 
a consequence they advanced, surprised and captured 
the pickets in front, mounted the enemy's works, low- 
ered the Spanish flag and hoisted their own, before 
they were fairly discovered in the dim dawn by the 
royalists, who made a hard struggle, but were finally 
defeated. 



CHAPTER V. 



BATTLE, MURDER, AND SUDDEN DEATH. 

Battle of the Medina — Strategy and Revenge — 
''La Noche Triste "— ' ' The Black Hole"— ''The 
Quinta" — A Tragedy Unparalleled in American 
History. 



About the middle of July, General Jose Maria Al- 
varez de Toledo arrived in San Antonio as successor 
of Gutierres. He was well received by the Americans 
and most of the Mexicans. His elegant manners, 
stately military bearing, and fine personal appearance 
won the respect and confidence of the major part of 
the troops. The only official to oppose Toledo was 
Captain Menchaca, and his opposition amounted to 
only a mild protest. This distinguished Mexican was 
born and reared in San Antonio, every inch a patriot, 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 29 




Historic old "Quinta." Here Arredondo imprisoned the 

San Antonio women after the Battle of Medina. This was 

San Antonio's first postoffice during the Republic. 

wise, brave, and a born leader, and his intuitive fore- 
sight was far more penetrating than that of his su- 
perior officers. His presentiment that Toledo, the 
Gachupin (Spaniard), would prove the undoing of 
the republican cause, and that he would yet be hold- 
ing a commission under the crown of Spain, proved 
a fulfilled prophecy. 

In August, hearing that a Spanish army was ap- 
proaching from Laredo, commanded by General Ar- 
redondo, the republican army from San Antonio 
marched out to meet them. Arredondo, learning of 
their approach, hid the main part of his army near 



30 San Antonio de Bexar 

the Medina River, and sent a small force ahead with 
instructions to engage the enemy in a slight skirmish, 
then seem to become confused and begin to fall back. 
The Americans thinking the whole army was in re- 
treat, fell into the pitfall laid for them. In an open 
space concealed from view by a strip of dense cliap- 
arral, Arredondo had drawn up his reserves, forming 
three sides of a square with his artillery so posted as 
to sweep the open side of this square which was open 
to the Americans, and into which they unwittingly 
Tushed, Toledo having abandoned a strong and al- 
most impregnable position to thus court defeat and 
litter annihilation. Exposed to a withering fire, the 
Americans maintained the unequal struggle. In all 
that host there was not a single coward. They were 
the sons of brave Revolutionary sires, they were the 
bravest of the brave, and it was not hard to die. 

Finally, when nearly all had fallen and there was 
no longer a cartridge left to the bleeding, staggering 
survivors, the battle was ended, and the flight to 
Bexar was on. The city was at the mercy of the re- 
lentless avenger, making this a pretext of retaliation 
for the blood of Herrera and Salcedo. For many 
years afterward the people of San Antonio spoke of 
that awful night as ''La Noche Triste" — the night of 
sorrow. 

With his main army Arredondo reached Bexar 
early in the afternoon of the 20th. The patio, or pa- 
rade ground, in the Alamo barracks, had been con- 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 31 

verted into a sort of carcel, more properly, a prison 
pen, and upon the royalist general 's arrival, he found 
that his industrious subordinate, Elisondo, had cooped 
up in this pen nearly 800 prisoners, including citizens 
of all stations — all awaiting the verdict of the com- 
mander-in-chief, who lost no time in establishing his 
tribunal of death, — Arredondo was the tribunal and 
from his decision there was no appeal. Those who 
were taken with arms in their hands were first led 
into his presence, only to be ordered to immediate 
execution, and until sunset that evening intermittent 
volleys of musketry on Military Plaza, proclaimed to 
the terrified inhabitants the revengeful policy of the 
triumphant Gachupin. 

In former years a merchant who dealt largely in 
grain erected a large granary in the rear of his store 
on Main Plaza. On account of an insect known as the 
g or go jo (weevil), which was very destructive in that 
climate, and rendered it difficult to preserve corn 
from its ravages any great length of time, this gran- 
ary was built as a protection against that pest. It 
was 20 by 40 feet in dimensions. The walls were 
about twelve feet in height, with flat roof, and con- 
tained only two small openings besides the doorway. 
These openings were in the south wall near the roof, 
merely for ventilation, and could be closed at will. 
The entire building was of adohe and when the door 
was closed the interior was almost wholly without 
ventilation. At sunset on the 20th, further execu- 



32 San Antonio de Bexar 

tions were deferred until the following morning. A 
list of the patriots whose sympathies for the revolu- 
tionists were well known, was furnished Arredondo, 
and from this list of names — men already under ar- 
rest — he selected 300 of these patriots and ordered 
them transferred at once from the Alamo car eel to 
this granary on the Main Plaza. This order was im- 
mediately carried into execution. It was a still, sultry 
August night, and the temperature, even at best, in 
the open air was intensely oppressive, and without a 
drop of water and without any means of ventilation, 
these 300 citizens were thrust into that small space, 
the door was closed, guards were stationed on the 
outside, and later, one of these was severely punished 
for having repeated to a citizen how these unfortunate 
prisoners fought ^nd struggled for a position near the 
little openings where they might obtain a breath of 
fresh air. The next morning when the door was 
thrown open, eighteen had died of suffocation, four 
others expired shortly after being removed, while 
more than half of the survivors had to be lifted and 
carried from the building. These, when partially re- 
stored, were taken before Arredondo, and before the 
noon hour most of them were stood up against the 
bloody wall on Military Plaza. 

Unsatiated with the blood of patriots and to give 
broader scope to his consummate malignity, the in- 
human Gaclmpin turned the vials of his fiendish rage 
against the innocent women and young girls of the 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 33 

devoted city, and more than 600 of these wives, moth- 
ers and daughters were arrested and driven into an 
enclosure near the banks of the river known as the 
'^Quinta." These were furnished with metates, 
seized and taken from their own homes, and with these 
stone implements they were forced to grind the corn 
and bake the tortillas for the entire Spanish army. 
Over these unhappy women was placed as guard and 
taskmaster, a Spanish sergeant, brutal, cruel, beastly 
obscene and immoral, and he, with the troop under 
his command, no less cowardly and depraved, found 
their chief delight in the infliction of every indignity, 
injury and mortification upon these helpless women 
and girls. 

Until the first of September public executions were 
of daily occurrence on Military Plaza; the adjacent 
country, even at great distances, was scoured in quest 
of refugees, who, when found, were brought in, the 
women sent to the ''Quinta," the children turned 
upon the streets to starve, and the men delivered into 
the hands of the executioner. Property owned by 
patriots and all suspects was confiscated and passed 
into the ownership of royalists, chiefly Arredondo's 
officers and favorites. Elisondo, with 500 dragoons, 
had been dispatched in pursuit of Toledo, and slaugh- 
ter marked his path from Bexar to the Sabine. 

Thus the Province of Texas once more became pros- 
trate under the iron heel of the tyrant ; her once beau- 
tiful capital, San Antonio, a city of desolation, strewn 



34 San Antonio de Bexar 

with the wrecks of her former glory, and clad in the 
habiliments of irretrievable woe, her homes tenantless, 
her fathers and sons seeking asylum in the fastness 
of the mountains, in the solitude of the wilderness, or 
consigned to bloody graves, while her gentle matrons 
and fair daughters became the enforced slaves of in- 
human masters. ''Truly, Texas is fallen, and the 
Spaniard has stamped in burning characters of hell 
his eternal shame on the walls of Bexar." 

The tragedy of the Medina stands without a paral- 
lel in American history. 

The foregoing is a summary of an autobiographical 
account of the "Battle of the Medina," written by an Ameri- 
can named Beltran, a resident of Bexar at the time, who 
participated in the bloody conflicts waged in and around 
that city in 1813. He married Henrietta Rodriguez, a 
member of a distinguished San Antonio family, and with 
her went to Chihuahua where he lived until death. His 
autobiography, written in Spanish, recently came into the 
possession of John Warren Hunter of San Angelo, by whom 
it was translated and furnished to the San Antonio Express. 

In mentioning one of the early prominent families of 
San Antonio, space must also be given to others — the 
Garza family, Veramendi, Navarro, Leal, Ramon, Men- 
chaca, Cassiano, Chavez, Yturri, Plores, Alejo Perez, 
Barrera, Seguin, Indo, Montes de Oca, Perez and Ruiz, 
all of whom contributed to the interesting business and 
social life of the city in its early days.* 



♦This list is taken from the late Judge J. M. Rodriguez' "Mem- 
oirs of Early Texas." 



\ 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 35 
CHAPTER VI. 



\ REHABILITATION. 

Educational Aff airs— '' The Father of Texas"— The 
Treaty of Cordova— The Constitution of 1824— The 
Fi-eclonian Rebellion — Coming of the Irish — 
Troubles at Anahuac — Enter Sam Houston — "The 
Department of Bexar" — Modern Educational Prin- 
ciples — The Storming of Bexar. 



While there were taking place in Mexico the swift 
changes from colonial dependency to independent 
monarchy, there is a wonder that a government of any 
sort should have existed in Texas. San Fernando for 
eight years succeeding the desolation wrought by Ar- 
redondo and his men, remained well-nigh voiceless in 
her woe. There were those among her people who re- 
gretted that the capital was so completely devoid of a 
treasury as to be unable to provide funds for the erec- 
tion of buildings of public utility and adornment, 
and for the education of its youth — but no efforts 
could be made to remedy the condition. 

It was Moses Austin, a native of Connecti- 
cut, who unconsciously became the harbinger of 
better times for Texas. He arrived in Bexar in 
December, 1820, and was introduced to Governor 
Martinez to whom he explained his projected 
enterprise of colonizing lands in Texas. Al- 
though the hand of death prevented the early con- 



36 



San Antonio de Bexar 




Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 37 

summation of this project, to his son, Stephen Fuller 
Austin, he left this heritage as one of his last injunc- 
tions. On the 12th of August, 1821, ''The Father of 
Texas" arrived at San Antonio accompanied by the 
first of the "Three Hundred" who were to become 
Austin 's first colonists. 

On August 24th, 1821, there was promulgated the 
Treaty of Cordova, which brought renewed strength 
and prosperity to Texas. Lieutenant-General Don 
Juan 'Donoju, sent out by the reformed government 
of Spain as captain-general and political chief of Mex- 
ico, together with General Iturbide, late emperor and 
usurper of the Mexican government, on this date at 
Cordova, Mexico, substantially perfected the separate 
government of Mexico from the mother country, thus 
putting an^ end to the royalist cause in New 
Spain. With the spread of this intelligence, the 
republicans and other exiled citizens returned to San 
Antonio. Furthermore, the Americans who had com- 
posed part of the following of Gutierres had spread 
favorable reports of the country, and a tide of emi- 
gration swept into Texas. In 1823 San Antonio is 
said to have had once more a population of 5,000. 

The following year there was issued the famous 
''Constitution of 1824," making of Coahuila and 
Texas one state, and decreeing that when Texas should 
possess the necessary elements for that purpose, she 
should be admitted into the Mexican union as a sep- 
arate state. 



38 San Antonio de Bexar 

On February 1st, 1825, Texas was made a ''Political 
Department" with a local officer, who was called the 
''Political Chief of the Department of Texas" ("De- 
partment of Texas" was the term used for the "Dis- 
trict" or "Department of Bexar") and was appoint- 
ed by the governor. He was required to reside at 
Bexar, and had general political, judicial, and mili- 
tary supervision over the country, subject to the gov- 
ernor of the state. Jose Antonio Saucedo was the 
first political chief in Texas, — a malignant Mexican 
whose rule was very distasteful to the American col- 
onists. 

In 1824 the first trading expedition to Santa Fe 
passed through San Antonio. The pack animals hav- 
ing been stolen by Indians some distance from town, 
they soon secured carts and oxen in San Antonio and 
continued with their goods to Santa Fe where they 
were disposed of at a tremendous profit. 

In December, 1826, there advanced from San An- 
tonio to Nacogdoches by order of Saucedo, political 
chief, some two hundred Mexican soldiers under com- 
mand of Colonel Mateo Ahumada, to put down the 
Fredonian Rebellion. The colonists under Empres- 
ario Edwards had been charged by Governor Blanco, 
among other things, with ingratitude. "We were in- 
vited to a desert," they replied, "we came and found 
it inhabited by Indians, and these of such audacity 
that even in San Antonio where the Mexicans mostly 
lived, they compelled the citizens and soldiers in the 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 39 

place to hold their horses while they paraded about 
the town." But the time was not ripe for Texas to 
proclaim liberty. Six weeks after leaving the capital 
the troops returned victorious to San Antonio. 

The Mexican government, doubtless in order to 
show some consideration for the growing Anglo-Saxon 
colony in San Antonio, established the first American 
school in Texas in 1828, referred to as the ''McClure" 
school, in a document in the Bexar County Records, 
dated July 5th of that year. At this time there also 
existed a Spanish public school on the east side of 
Military Plaza near the Cathedral. After this, until 
1839, education in San Antonio received almost no 
attention. 

In 1829 two venturesome and energetic Irish Cath- 
olics, James McGloin and John McMullen, entered 
into a contract to bring two hundred families of their 
race and religion as settlers to Texas. The rich val- 
ley land lying betwen the San Antonio and Nueces 
Rivers was set aside for them as a colony grant by 
the Mexican authorities. These empresarios landed 
with about forty families the latter part of 1829. 
From this year until 1833, valuable additions were 
received by the Irish colonists. It was during these 
same years that many of them located in San Antonio. 
The original leaders themselves had homes here, Mc- 
Gloin living in the Yturri house on Market Street — 
the Yturris were settlers from the Asturias, an ancient 



San Antonio de Bexar 




Historic Veramendi Palace — now destroyed. 



province of Spain, — and McMullen becoming a prom- 
inent San Antonian. 

The first part of the year 1830 passed quietly in 
Texas and at Bexar, its capital. But a sudden change 
of Mexico's policy toward the colonists became ap- 
parent when Bustamente, who had usurped the presi- 
dential chair of Mexico, became undisputed master of 
Texas. A decree of April 6th forbade the people of 
the United States from settling as colonists in Texas^ 
and provided for the etsablishment of custom houses^ 
in the interior at Bexar and Nacogdoches, and at Co- 
pano, Velasco, at the head of the Brazos, and Gal- 
veston, or rather Anahuac at the head of the bay^ 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 41 

where taxes were to be collected on all goods not 
bought in Mexico. Forces were placed at Nacog- 
doches, at Anahuac and Velasco, with tAvo presidial 
companies at Bexar and Goliad, to force submission 
to these arbitrary and obnoxious measures. Don Ea- 
mon Musquiz presided as political chief at Bexar. 

In September, 1830, Don Juan Martin Veramendi, 
a San Antonian and a man of liberal principles, was 
elected vice-governor of Texas, which indicated a fa- 
vorable disposition toward the colonists. But the des- 
potic course of Colonel Bradburn, stationed at An- 
ahuac, so infuriated the colonists that fighting oc- 
curred at that place in 1832, followed bj^ a battle at 
Velasco, — the first breath of revolution. 

On March 2nd, 1831, the brothers, Eezin P. and 
James Bowie, started out from San Antonio with the 
expedition which they had organized in search of the 
old reputed silver mines of the San Saba mission. 

Early in 1833 there arrived at Bexar the individu- 
al who was to become the father of Texas Independ- 
ence. Sam Houston, the man of destiny for that par- 
ticular period in our history, after having partaken of 
Christmas dinner at San Felipe, had set out for San 
Antonio with Colonel James Bowie. Here he met Vera- 
mandi, vice-governor of the state, and father-in-law of 
Bowie, also Ruiz, the Mexican commandant. The object 
of this visit was to hold a consultation with the Co- 
manche chiefs, to the end that they might be induced 
to return to the United States and meet commission- 



42 San Antonio de Bexar 

ers at Cantonment Gibson, there to enter into a treaty 
01 peace. 

In the memorial issued by the colonists in convention 
assembled, April 1st, 1833, to the General Congress 
of the United Mexican States, praying for dissolution 
of Texas from Coahuila, a union in every way incom- 
patible, it was stated : ' ' Bexar, the ancient capital of 
Texas, presents a faithful and glaring picture of her 
general want of protection and encouragement. Situ- 
ated in a fertile, picturesque and healthful region, 
established a century and a half ago (within which 
period populous and magnificent cities have sprung in- 
to existence), she exhibits only the decrepitude of age, 
sad testimonial of the absence of that political guard- 
ianship which a wise government should always bestow 
upon the feebleness of its exposed frontier settlements 
. . . Bexar is still exposed to the depredations of her 
ancient enemies, the insolent, vindictive and faithless 
Comanches. Her citizens are still massacred, their 
cattle destroyed or driven away, and their very habi- 
tations threatened by a tribe of erratic and undis- 
ciplined Indians whose audacity has derived confi- 
dence from success, and whose long-continued aggres- 
sions have invested them with a fictitious and an ex- 
cessive terror. Her schools are neglected, her churches 
desolate, the sounds of human industry are almost 
hushed, and the voice of gladness and prosperity is 
converted into wailing and lamentation by the dis- 
heartening and multiple evils which surround her de- 
fenceless population. '^ 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 43 

In 1834, Colonel Juan N. Almonte, commissioned by 
Santa Ana to visit Texas and report on its readiness 
for statehood, said in his description of the journey: 
''The most disagreeable part is the space that inter- 
venes between the Rio Grande and Bexar, still an un- 
settled wilderness — the roaming ground of the Lipans 
and Apaches — as had been reported a century be- 
fore." Concerning schools, Almonte stated, ''In 
Bexar there exists one, supported by the Ayuntamien- 
to, but as it appears its funds have become so reduced 
that not even this useful establishment has been able 
to survive. What will be the lot of these unfortunates 
who live in the midst of barrenness without the hope 
of education?"* 

The constitution for the dual State of Coahuila and 
Texas had required that the system of education be 
uniform throughout the State and that to facilitate 
matters, congress should form a general plan for pub- 
lic instruction. In view of the limited educational 
exhibit so far made, the law seemed very comprehen- 
sive, but there were few beneficent results from the 
fact that the State had no public money to be used 
for schools and never had during the union of Coa- 
huila and Texas. In a letter dated January 31st, 1826, 
from Political Chief Saucedo to Rafael Gonzales, gov- 
ernor of the dual State, he reported the establishment 
of a school in the city of San Fernando on the 15th 



♦From I. J. Cox's article in Volume VI, No. 1, of Texas State 
Historical Association's Quarterly, "Early Education in San Fer- 
nando de Bexar." 



44 San Antonio de Bexar 

of the month, funds to be raised by private subscrip- 
tion, and asked congress for the gift of a building 
merited by the community which owing to the scar- 
city of money it could not obtain for itself. But con- 
gress withheld the donation, there not being sufficient 
assurance that the school work would be continued I 

During the year 1831, the State Congress had in- 
augurated an educational policy promising success- 
ful results — that of allowing each community to at- 
tend to the matter of education within its own limits 
and to provide funds for this purpose by allowing it 
tlie proceeds of the sale of its public lands. While 
nothing definite came of this at the time, the fact re- 
mains that upon these two principles the present 
school system of San Antonio has been founded. 

The first strictly revolutionary meeting in Texas 
was held at Bexar, October 13th, 1834. But it was not 
a success, much caution and conservatism being nec- 
essary with Stephen F. Austin still a prisoner in Mex- 
ico, to which country he had been sent to take the 
congressional documents relative to the separation of 
Texas from Coahuila. Upon his return from impris- 
onment early in September, he told the people the 
time had come for war. They believed him, knowing 
him to be a man of peace. At his ringing call to every 
man in Texas to seize arms and prepare to defend the 
rights of the Texans and their country, the colonists 
made ready and the clash of battle was not long de- 
layed. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 45 




Rear view of Mission Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion. 



Soon followed the first shot, fired at Gonzales, 
October 25th, 1835, from which volley the Mexicans 
fled in terror. Eeport spread that Colonel Ugartechea, 
stationed at San Antonio by Santa Ana, was coming 
toward Gonzales with 500 men. But he failed to ap- 
pear and the loyal Texans, swelled in number by 
eager volunteers, decided to march boldly to San An- 
tonio. They appealed to weary Austin at San Felipe 
to take command. He consented, and on October 11th 
was elected commander-in-chief. Two days later the 
little army began its slow march, its force daily aug- 
mented until, before the end of the month, it num- 



46 San Antonio de Bexar 

bered more than 500. On October 28th, occurred the 
remarkable victory at Mission Concepcion in San 
Antonio 's environs. 

But Austin preferred a long siege to a sudden 
attack upon the forces of the enemy entrenched at 
San Antonio. After a month of inactivity the 
famous scout, Deaf Smith, dashed into camp 
with the announcement that a hundred soldiers 
were approaching San Antonio with horses loaded 
down with silver to pay the Mexican troops. "Wild 
excitement prevailed. In a flash, Bowie at the 
head of a hundred men, crying " Ugartechea, " 
was galloping off to intercept them. The whole army 
of volunteers followed, while the Mexican garrison 
hurried out to join in the lively skirmish which soon 
occurred. The Mexicans lost some fifty men and 
many of their bags. These latter, however, to the in- 
tense disappointment of the Texans, were filled with 
grass instead of silver. The Mexican army had sent 
out a foraging party to bring in sacks of grass to feed 
the horses in the garrison. Hence, ' ' The Grass Fight" 
of history, in which no Texan's life was lost. 

The day before this fight Colonel Austin had re- 
signed the position of commander-in-chief, having^ 
been appointed one of three commissioners to the 
United States to ask aid for oppressed Texas. Gen- 
eral Edward Burleson was elected to succeed him. 
When Austin left, the volunteers still camped near 
San Antonio, became restless and discontented at the 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 47 

enforced and prolonged period of delay in attacking 
the fortifications of the enemy, now under General 
Cos — his predecessor having been ordered to Goliad. 
At the critical moment a brave man suddenly crystal- 
lized the loose mass of discordant men and opinions, 
into one compact force and one keen purpose, by step- 
ping forth and asking peremptorily, ''Who Avill go 
with old Ben Milam into San Antonio ? ' ' That night 
three hundred and one eager volunteers met at the Old 
Mill to perfect arrangements for the attack. 

The next morning, December 5th, these same men 
started forth. General Burleson agreeing to hold his 
position until he heard from them. Colonel Milam 
marched into and along Acequia Street with his party, 
Colonel F. W. Johnson, second in command, with 
his along Soledad Street. Where these two streets 
open into Main Plaza, Cos had thrown up breast- 
works and placed working batteries. The columns 
marched parallel along the quiet streets. Presently as 
Johnson came nearer the Veramendi House, a Mexi- 
can seniinel fired. The fire was returned by Deaf 
Smith and the sentinel fell. The Mexicans pricked 
up their ears, then pricked into their cannon cart- 
ridges; the Plaza batteries opened, the Alamo bat- 
teries joined in; spade, crowbar, rifle, escopet, all 
were plied. The storming of Bexar was on.* Four 
days passed, the battle raging with the greatest fury 
while Milam and his brave companions fought their 



* Sidney Lanier, "San Antonio de Bexar. 



48 San Antonio de Bexar 

way from house to house, gradually approaching the 
center of the Mexican position, but not before brave 
Milam was struck by a rifle ball just as he was enter- 
ing the yard of the Veramendi House to give an order. 
He fell expiring instantly, and for him all Texas 
mourned. Finally the Priest's House commanding 
the Plaza was gained, which meant victory for the 
Texans. Early on the morning of the 9th, General Cos 
sent a flag of truce to Burleson asking to surrender. 
On the 10th formal and honorable articles of capitu- 
lation were entered into. General Cos and his men 
being allowed to keep their arms and march away. 
To the Texans fell the possession of the fort with all 
its cannon and military supplies. 



CHAPTER VII. 



EEVOLVTION. 

The Provisional Government — An Official House Di- 
vided Against Itself — A Depleted Garrison — 
Travis' Heroic Appeals to the Powerless — Bexar's 
Indignation Meeting — The Gonzalean Volunteers — 
A Blood-Red Banner — Declaration of Independ- 
ence. 



A provisional government had been formed not 
long before the close of the first campaign of the Texas 
Revolution, at San Felipe with Henry Smith, gov- 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 49 

ernor, James W. Robinson, lieutenant-governor, and 
one man from each of the eighteen municipali- 
ties in Texas, to compose a council. The stern 
fact for their consideration, after the depart- 
ure of the Mexican army from San Antonio 
in the middle of December, 1835, was that with the 
coming of spring, Santa Ana himself would be in 
Texas and with a larger army. A plan of defense 
could not be agreed upon, there being dissensions be- 
tween the governor and the council — a house divided 
against itself. Thus began an official quarrel which 
culminated in the most disastrous calamity ever chron- 
icled in history — the fall of the Alamo. 

Lieutenant-Colonel J. C. Neill had been left in 
charge of the garrison at Bexar after the departure 
of the Mexican troops. This force was soon depleted, 
however, by Dr. James Grant, who — applauded by 
the council — hastened with many of them to Mata- 
moras on the Rio Grande, a stronghold of the Mexi- 
cans, and furthermore carried off so many supplies of 
clothing, ammunition and provisions, that Colonel 
Neill, writing to Governor Smith, declared the place 
was ''left destitute and defenseless — even the sick and 
wounded being stripped of blankets needed to cover 
them, and medicines necessary for their recovery, ' ' 

On the night of January 11th, 1836, General Houston 
was informed by courier from Colonel Neill, in com- 
mand of but eighty men at San Antonio, that a large 



50 San Antonio de Bexar 

Mexican force was marching on the place.* The next 
day he ordered Colonel Bowie with thirty men to 
hasten to San Antonio with instructions to Colonel 
Neill to demolish the fortifications and bring off the 
artillery, as it would be impossible to hold the town 
with the force there, stripped as it had been by Dr. 
Grant, of men and ammunition. On that same day 
General Houston wrote Governor Smith, ' ' In an hour 
I will take up the line of march for Refugio with a 
force of about two hundred men to await orders from 
your Excellency ... I would myself have marched 
with a force to Bexar, but the ' Matamoras fever ' rages 
so high that I must see Colonel Ward's men. You 
have no idea of the difficulties I have encountered. 
Patton has told you of the me^i that make the trouble. 
Better material was never in ranks." 

General Houston, on reaching Refugio, and find- 
ing that he had been ignored by the council and vir- 
tually superseded by the authorization given to Fan- 
nin and Johnson, returned to Washington-on-the- 
Brazos. Colonel Neill in answering Houston's orders, 
declared he could not remove the artillery for want 
of teams, and could not therefore demolish the forti- 
fications. Grant had not left enough horses for scout- 
ing purposes or for bringing in beeves. The men were 
not paid, were poorly fed and so many had gone home 
that but eighty were left. 



*The name of Lorenzo de Zavala was particularly reverenced 
in San Antonio. To friends in the Alamo, and in the town of 
Bexar, he sent a special courier to warn them of the coming of 
Santa Ana. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 51 

On February 2nd, 1836, Colonel Bowie wrote frora 
Bexar to Governor Smith that no other man m the 
rrmy save Colonel NeiU, eould have kept men a^ 
post under the neglect they had experienced Re e 
at this post in men, money and P''^— ^'/^ °\;\'"' 
importance. The salvation of Texas depends on keep- 
ing Bexar out of the hands of the enemy . • Again 
11 .innrl for relief . . Our force today is but 
we call aloud loi reiiei . . , -, i,„ „ wn^te 

one hundred men and officers. It would be a waste 
of ni^Tto put our brave little band against thou- 

Ten davs later found Lieutenant-Colonel Travis 
with a sinall force at Bexar, sent thither by order of 
Governor Smith. Upon his arrival, Lieuteiiant-Col- 
IJl Neill, because of ill-health, departed for his home 
in Central Texas, leaving Travis m command. Wish- 
ing to give satisfaction to the volunteers at that place^ 
Colone! Travis issued an order for the f c^ion °f - 
officer to command them. Bowie was elected by two 
ial companies. On February 14th, a letter was 
sent to Governor Smith, saying: "By an understand- 
ing of today. Colonel James Bowie has command of 
the volunteers of the garrison, and Colonel W. B. 
Travis of the regulars and volunteer ^avaliy All 
general orders and correspondence will henceforth be 
signed by both until Colonel NeiU's return. 

By the arrival of Crockett and Travis, the garrison 
was increased to one hundred and fifty men. 
must again remind your Excellency that this position 



52 San Antonio de Bexar 

at Bexar is the key of Texas, and should not be re- 
jected by the Government,'' wrote Travis to the gov- 
ernor nearly a week later. 

On January 26th, 1836, an indignation meeting of 
citizens and soldiers was held at Bexar, supporting 
the authority of Governor Smith and ''his unyield- 
ing and patriotic efforts to fulfill the duties and pre- 
serve the dignity of his office," and declaring they 
''would not submit to the attempts of the President 
and members of the Executive Council to annul the 
acts or embarrass the officers appointed by the Gen- 
eral Constitution, deemed by this meeting to be an- 
archial assumptions of power." These animadver- 
sions referred to the assumption of Grant and John- 
son as officers of the self-styled Federal Army, and 
the acts of the malcontents, composing a fragment of 
the council, in virtually appointing Fannin an officer 
independent of the governor and commander-in-chief. 
Thus had Governor Smith's efforts been sorely crip- 
pled and the power of General Houston for good been 
paralyzed, by the usurpations of a minority of the 
governing body of Texas. 

On February 23rd, 3 :00 o 'clock p .m., 1836, an ap- 
peal was sent from Colonel Travis to Andrew Ponton, 
alcalde, and the citizens of Gonzales: "The enemy 
in large force is in sight. We want men and provi- 
sions. Send them to us. We have one hundred and 
fifty men and are determined to defend the Alamo to 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 



53 



the last. Give us assistance . . . Send an ^express 
to San Felipe with the news night and day.'' 

Immediately upon receipt of this dispatch Governor 
Smith had it printed on hand-bills with an appeal to 
the people of Texas, which contained the ringing ap- 
peal "I call upon you as an officer and implore you 
as a' man, to fly to the aid of your besieged country- 
men and not permit them to be massacred by a mer- 
cenary foe. I slight none. The call is upon ALL 
who are able to bear arms, to rally without one mo- 
ment 's delay, or in fifteen days the heart of Texas 
wiU be the seat of war ... The campaign has com- 
menced. We must promptly meet the enemy or all 
will be lost. Do you possess honor? Suffer it not to 
be insulted or tarnished! Do you possess patriotism? 
Evince it by your bold, prompt, and manly action. 
If you possess even humanity, you will rally with- 
out^ a moment's delay to the aid of your besieged 
countrymen ! ' ' 

On February 24th, Travis sent out from the Alamo 
an heroic document addressed "To the people of 
Texas, and all Americans in the world," containing 
the historical words: "I am besieged by a thousand 
or more of the Mexicans under Santa Ana. I have 
sustained a continual bombardment and cannonade 
for 24 hours and not a man lost. The enemy has de- 
manded a surrender at discretion, otherwise the gar- 
risons are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken. 
I have answered the demand with a cannon shot and 



54 San Antonio de Bexar 

our flag still waves proudly from the walls. / shall 
never surrender or retreat. Then, I call upon you in 
the name of liberty, of patriotism and everything dear 
to the American character, to come to our aid with all 
dispatch. The enemy is receiving reinforcements 
daily and will no doubt increase to three or four 
thousand in four or five days. If this call is neg- 
lected I am 'determined to sustain myself as long as 
possible and die like a soldier, who never forgets what 
is due to his honor and that of his country. VIC- 
TORY OR DEATH." 

Before day on the morning of March 1st, Captain 
Albert Martin and thirty-nine other dauntless Gon- 
zaleans, passed safely through the lines of Santa Ana 
and entered the walls of the Alamo. These heroes, 
most of them husbands and fathers, voluntarily or- 
ganized, thus entered a fortress doomed to destruc- 
tion. 

For days the men within the walls had been ready 
for a supreme sally, when Fannin and his men from 
Goliad would need a welcome backed by the Alamo 
rifles, — for as a final appeal to them for help, James 
Butler Bonham had been sent a willing messenger. 
Early on the morning of March 3rd, Bonham returned 
alone from his mission. ' ' They are coming ! " he cried 
hopefullj^ But in Travis' letter written that same 
day to President Burnet of the Convention at Wash- 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 55 

ington-on-the-Brazos, he wrote: ''Colonel Fannin* 
is said to be on the march to this place with rein- 
forcements, but I fear it is not true ... I look to 
the colonists alone for aid ... A blood red banner 
waves from the church at Bexar, and in the camp 
above us, in token that the war is one of vengeance 
against rebels . . . God and Texas! Victory or 
death!'' 

A few days after the promulgation of Governor 
Smith's appeal, a convention assembled at Washing- 
ton-on-the-Brazos, which on March 2nd, adopted unan- 
imously a Declaration of Independence for Texas. 
This same convention vindicated the course of Gover- 
nor Smith and unanimously re-elected Sam Houston 
commander-in-chief of the armies of Texas. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



A BELEAGUERED MISSION. 

The Alamo's Last Messenger — ''In the Name of 
Liberty" — Travis, Bowie, Crockett, Bonham, — Im- 
mortals. 

"I shall never surrender or retreat!" "Victory 
or Death!" Travis well knew that if he retreated 
from the walls of the beleaguered mission there was 
nothing to prevent the march of Santa Ana directly 



*It is but justice to Fannin to state that although heeding none 
of the other messengers sent him from the Alamo, he finally gave 
encouragement to Bonham, after whose departure he started forth 
with his men. But he had too long delayed. A trivial accident 
caused him to return to Goliad. Of his massacre there with his 
men all Texans are familiar. 



56 San Antonio de Bexar 

through Gonzales into the colonies. Almost to the 
last he hoped for reinforcements, and unquestionably 
believed that with but a few hundred more soldiers 
he could defend the Alamo and hold in check Santa 
Ana and his men until Houston, under the auspices 
of the convention, could rally such a force as would 
achieve a signal victory. Travis' last communica- 
tions* to Houston at Gonzales were carried by James 
L. Allen, t a youth of sixteen, who thus became the 
last of its defenders to pass beyond those sacred walls. 
Being the youngest of the little band and a fine horse- 
man, he volunteered to carry these dispatches, using 
for that purpose a fine horse belonging to one of the 
officers in the garrison. The back or eastern gate to 
the court of the Alamo was double, thus permitting 
animals to come and go. The most favorable time for 
his departure being decided upon, watchers having 
been placed to see and report, at a given signal the 
gates were thrown open, his horse darted out like an 
arrow, a space of fifty yards being covered before 
the enemy realized what was being done. By that 
time the horseman was not far from the chaparral 
and bushes which protected him from sight. Once 
through the lines he felt he could perform his mis- 
sion successfully. Throwing himself on the opposite 
side of the horse from which the shots were being 



*John Henry Brown's "History of Texas" is the authority 
used for historical data relative to the siege and fall of the 
Alamo. In it are found in full the letters and dispatches herein 
referred to. 

tOne of DeWitt County's oldest residents. This information 
was given by him to Mrs. Sam A. Bennet of Cuero, DeWitt Co. 



Historical, Traditional, Legekdary. 57 

fired, he kept on with all possible speed in an easterly 
direction. When on the brow of the hill, he placed 
himself on the back of the horse and looking behind 
could see a number of Mexicans in pursuit firing rap- 
idly upon him. Being on the best horse he was en- 
tirely beyond gun-shot before he reached the first 
creek After crossing this he saw only a few m pur- 
suit, but still rode rapidly on until within a few 
miles of the Cibola he turned toward the north of the 
road, crossed the Cibola, then went in a little more 
northerly direction until the Guadalupe was reached. 
Thinking the Mexicans would have this crossing 
guarded, he sought a ford to the north. From this 
point he turned south toward Gonzales, leaving be- 
guin to the right. Crossing York Creek and the San 
Marcos he arrived at Gonzales and delivered the dis- 
patches to the commander-in-chief. 

The beleaguered mission known as "The Alamo" 
was built on a large rectangular area or plaza, on 
the east side being located the main building, the 
monastery or convent, a two-story, thick-walled struc- 
ture 50 varas square, with two patios and with arched 
cloisters above and below. During the siege under 
Travis the upper portion of this building was used 
for a hospital and the lower for an armory, soldiers 
quarters, etc. At the southeast corner of the entire 
mission stood the chapel, first built prior to 16 <2, 

building was laid and blessed May 8th, 1744. 



58 



San Antonio de Bexar 











Acequia. 

but the tower and sacristy having fallen down be- 
cause of the stupidity of the builder, another of har- 
monious architecture was built of quarried stone. On 
the west of the plaza of the mission was the Indian 
village or puehlo, — always closely connected with 
monastery and chapel — surrounded by a wall. It 
consisted of seven rows of houses built of stone with 
arched porticos, doors and windows. The pueblo of 
San Antonio de Valero was typical of all. Through 
the plaza ran an acequia^ grown in early days with 
willows and fruit trees. Within the plaza was a 
curbed well to supply water in case of a siege by the 
enemy. The entrance to the mission was on the south 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 59 

side through, the center of a thick- walled stone build- 
ing, one portion of which was used as a prison and 
the other for a granary. Over the entrance was a 
tower with embrasures equipped through the mission 
era, with three cannon, firearms and munitions. 

The Alamo having been originally built as a place 
of refuge for settlers and their property, as well as 
for Indian neophytes, in case of attacks from hostile 
tribes, and not as a regular fort, had not the strength, 
compactness nor arrangement of dominant points 
which belong to a regular fortification ; while the size 
of its area and the consequent length of its other wall, 
made it difficult both to man and to protect. 

When on February 23rd, 1836, General Sesma en- 
tered Bexar with 2,000 Mexicans and took possession of 
^'The Plaza of the Constitution," the American troops 
numbering one hundred and fifty* were compelled to 
retire to the Alamo. This mission was in exactly the 
same condition that General Cos had left it in at 
his capitulation the December before. A part of 
the chapel had been unroofed, the rear wall had crum- 
bled from the top, and overhead the masonry had 
given away. Only at the front was there any of the 
flat front left, which, however, served as a platform 
for cannon. Here the facade rose high enough for a 
parapet over which waved the tricolor bearing the 
legend ''1824." In defense of the Mexican constitu- 



* Santa Ana's force was as sixteen to one, and his loss in slain 
nearly three times the number of the defenders. — Yoakum. 



60 San Antonio de Bexar 

tion Texas sharpshooters on the platform held off the 
Mexican army. What had once been the sacristy of 
the chapel was now to serve as a powder magazine. 
The entrenchment to protect the front of the chapel 
which faced west, and the south side of the garrison, 
or old monastery, consisted of a ditch and breast- 
works, and a cedar-post stockade. All the guns of 
the area were mounted on high platforms of stock- 
ades and earth, and fired over the wall. 

Within the walls of this old mission was entrenched 
the only force between Bexar and the Sabine to hold 
the Mexicans until Houston could raise an army. The 
call of Travis for 500 more troops, mostly regulars, 
''militia and volunteers being ill-suited to garrison 
a town," and his appeal for money, provisions and 
clothing, had been in vain. 

General Houston, temporarily shorn of military 
power, had succeeded as a commissioner, together with 
Major John Forbes, who acted under his instructions, 
in securing a treaty of neutrality from the Cherokees 
and their allies, but he was still powerless to aid 
Travis — as was also Governor Smith — save with the 
moral support of courage and sympathy. 

The siege of the Alamo had commenced on the 23rd 
of February. On the 4th of March, Santa Ana called 
a council of war and fixed on the early dawn of Sun- 
day the 6th, as being the time for final assault. The 
immediate command was entrusted to General Cas- 
trillon, a Spaniard by birth and a brilliant soldier. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 61 

Santa Ana took his station with a part of his staff 
!ndaU the regimental bands, at a battery south of 
the Alamo and near the old bridge from which the 
silfl was to be given by a bugle note to the column 
o move simultaneously at double quick time agains 
different points of the fortress. By the ™ of the 
signal it was calculated that the c^l™ ^^^f "^J^"* 
the foot of the wall just as it became light enough 

'"XTthat hour came the batteries and music were 
alike silent, and a single blast of the bugle was at &^t 
followed by no sound save the rushing tramp of soU 
diers The guns of the fortress soon opened upon 
tC and then the bands at the south battery struck 
Z^L assassin note deguello.* But a few and no 
very effective discharges from the works could be 
made before the enemy was under them, and it s 
thought that the worn and weary garrison was not tUl 
then fully mustered. Either the deadly fire of the 
riflemen commanded by Travis stationed at the north- 
west corner of the area, or the large piece of cannon 
commanding the breach made at this pom by the 
Mexicans, brought the advancing columns to a to- 
ordered halt, its leader falling dangerously wounded. 
The defense of the outer walls was soon abandoned, 
the concentrated garrison taking refuge within the 
buildings, but they were only concentrated as_ to 
"pace, not as to unity, there being no communica- 



*No quarter. 



62 San Antonio de Bexar 

tion between buildings, nor in all cases between rooms. 

There was no retreating from point to point; each 
group of defenders had to fight and die in the den 
where it *.vas brought to bay. From the doors, win- 
dows, and loopholes of the several rooms around the 
area, the crack of the rifle and the hiss of the bay- 
onet came thick and fast — so fast that the enemy fell 
and recoiled in the first efforts to charge. The im- 
mortal Travis had evidently fallen at his post as the 
enemy was pouring in through the breach, his remains 
being found lying beside his gun. It was this can- 
non which did more execution than any other in the 
fortress, but after a few effective discharges all who 
manned it fell under the enemy's fire. Each of its 
balls, spent in quick succession, was followed by a 
storm of musketry and a charge — thus room after 
room became a glorious battlefield carried at the point 
of the bayonet when all within had died fighting until 
the last. 

The struggle consisted of a number of separate 
and desperate combats, often hand to hand be- 
tween squads of the garrison and bodies of the enemy. 
The indomitable Davy Crockett of Tennessee had tak- 
en refuge in a room of the low barracks near the gate. 
He eitl er garrisoned it alone or was left alone by 
the fall of his companions, when he sallied to meet 
his fate in the face of the foe and was shot down. 
Bowie had been severely hurt by a fall from a plat- 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 63 

form* and when the attack commenced was confined 
to a cot in an upper room of the barracks. Here he 
met his death, but not without stout resistance ; he is 
said to have shot down with his pistols many of the 
enemy as they entered the room. The chief struggle 
was in the monastery building of the mission where 
the dead fell in heaps, although the last point taken 
was the church. A bayonet soon gleaned what the 
bullet missed, and in the upper part of the chapel 
the last defender in a half hour 's onslaught must have 
fallen. The morning, breeze which received his part- 
ing breath has carried to the ages the sad requiem, 
• ' The Alamo has fallen, ' ' while to the heavenly portals 
it has wafted the magnificent story of reckless and im- 
mortal sacrifice. 



CHAPTEK IX. 



AFTERMATH. 

Traditions of the Siege— The Mother of the ''Child 
of the Alamo" — The Remains of the Alamo's He- 
roes — Colonel Seguin in San Antonio — Origin of 
the name Alamo. 

"The Alamo has fallen," and if the battered and 
time-worn walls of its chapel, now all that remains of 
that group of buildings, had ears to hear and had 
caught to themselves the closing scenes of a sublime 



*John Henry Brown. Other historians tell us that Bowie, 
stricken with tuberculosis, was unable to rise from his cot. 



64 San Antonio de Bexar 

tragedy, what might we not learn of the impulses 
that stirred those doomed and expiring heroes ! They 
would tell us if tradition be true in saying that Travis 
on that last and solemn night addressed his men and 
among other stirring words, with these: ''Then we 
must die. Our business is not to make a fruitless 
effort to save our lives, but to choose the manner of 
our death . . . Let us resolve to withstand our ad- 
versaries to the last, and at each advance to kill as 
many as possible . . . And when at last they shall 
storm our fortress, let us kill them as they come ! Kill 
them as they scale our wall! Kill them as they leap 
within! Kill them as they raise their weapons and 
as they use them! Kill them as they kill our com- 
panions, and continue to kill them as long as one of 
them shall remain alive ! . . . But I leave every man 
to his own choice . . . My choice is to stay in the 
fort and die for my country, fighting as long as 
breath shall remain in my body. This will I do even 
if you leave me alone. Do as you think best ; but no 
man can die with me without affording me comfort in 
the hour of death ! ' ' 

Tell us, grim walls, did Travis then draw forth his 
sword and with it trace a line upon the floor and 
call upon his men to come across this line, all who 
were determined to stay and die with him? Every 
man save one,* tradition tells us, obeyed his wish — 



*A man named Rose is said to have refused to remain and be- 
come a martyr. Making his escape he told to a family named 
Zuber, the story of this scene and of Travis' farewell address to 
his men. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 65 

the sick ones tottering from their bunks, while Bowie, 
prostrate on his cot, made his request, ''Boys, I am 
not able to come to you, but I wish some of you would 
be so kind as to remove my cot over there," and 
forthwith four men carried it where he wished. 

These walls alone know the last personal results 
of a unanimous resolve of desperate and calmly de- 
liberate men. They could tell us if Travis regulars 
and Bowie volunteers fought side by side unto the 
end, forgetting petty animosities. We could learn 
from them of each single hero's prowess, of separate 
and supreme feats which are now only conjecture; 
of the work of Davy Crockett's unerring rifle, of 
Bowie's heroism and his dying onslaughts with the 
famous knife fashioned by his brother* ; of brave Bon- 
ham and his cannonading. But all these are secrets of 
the silent walls, yet what we really k7iow has given 
material for a greater than an Iliad. 

Of those within the Alamo's walls to survive the 
siege were Mrs. Dickinson, wife of Lieutenant Dick- 
inson, who had commanded a gun in the east upper 
window of the church, their child — a little girl — , 
Colonel Travis' negro boy-servant and two women, 
Mrs. Alsbury of San Antonio, an adopted daughter of 
Governor Veramendi, and Madame Candelaria, a 
Mexican. These had been driven together in a corner 
of the chapel. It was Mrs. Dickinson, on horseback 



*It is authoritatively stated that Rezin P. Bowie invented the 
Bowie knife, designing it out of an old file. 



66 San Antonio de Bexar 

with her child in her arms, who carried the story of 
the martyred heroes to Houston's scouts, dispatched 
from Gonzales to gain the truth of the rumor that the 
Alamo had fallen. For immediately upon his re-elec- 
tion at the convention, as commander-in-chief of the 
Texas army, Houston set out for Gonzales to take 
command of the forces, at last responding to appeal. 
Reaching there in the 11th, he found 374 men and 
immediately began organizing a regiment to go to the 
relief of Travis, — but too late, as he soon learned. 

When the slaughter in the Alamo was complete, 
Santa Ana was confronted with the problem of dis- 
posing of the dead. He directed the alcalde, Ruiz, to 
have built two immense wooden pyres. They were lo- 
cated on what was then known as the Alameda or Cot- 
tonwood Grove roadway, now a wide portion of East 
Commerce Street. The northeast end of one of these 
pyres extended into the eastern portion of the front 
yard of the present Ludlow House, the other pyre 
was in what is now the yard of Dr. Ferdinand Herff 
Sr.'s old Post or Springfield House. Upon these two 
pyres the bodies of the brave Texans were placed. 
Alternate layers of wood and men were laid, then 
grease and oil was poured over the pyre. Finally 
torches were applied. It took two days to consume 
the corpses of the noble dead.* The question of the 
final disposal of the remains of those who gave their 



* "Combats and Conquests of Immortal Heroes". — Chas. M. 
Barnes. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 67 

lives for Texas at the Alamo has been settled for all 

time by a letter, the translation of which is as follows : 

Laredo de Tamaupilas, Mexico. 

March 26, 1889. 

General H. P. Bee, San Antonio. 

Dear Sir: In reply to your inquiries in behalf 
of the Alamo Monument Association, I author- 
ize you to state that the dead of the Alamo 
were burned by order of General Santa Ana, and 
when I took command of that city after the battle 
of San Jacinto I collected together the charred and 
small fractions of the bodies that were scattered 
around, placed them in an urn and deposited it in 
a grave which I had dug inside the cathedral of San 
Fernando on the Main Plaza of San Antonio,* in front 
of the altar, close to the railing and near the steps, 
where they now are. 

Respectfully, 

JUAN N. SEGUIN. 



♦Clipping from "San Antonio Express," (undated). 

The following, recently come to our attention, taken from an 
article, "Funeral of the Heroes of the Alamo," by Eugene C. 
Barker, in the "Quarterly," Vol. V, No. 1, refutes the above as- 
sertion: This statement has received a good deal of publicity 
and general credence, notwithstanding the vehement denials of 
the San Fernando clergy. It appears, however, that Seguin'a 
memory played him false, for in the Telegraph and Texas Reg- 
ister of March 28, 1837, there is a detailed description of the 
funeral to which of course, his simple statement, made after a 
lapse of exactly fifty- two years, must give first place. The Tele- 
graph account is as follows: "In conformity with an order from 
the general commanding the army at headquarters. Colonel Se- 
guin, with his command stationed at Bexar, paid the honors of 
war to the remains of the heroes of the Alamo; the ashes were 
formed in three heaps, the two smallest heaps were carefully 
collected, placed in a coffin, neatly covered with black, and hav- 



68 San Antonio de Bexar 

Colonel Juan Seguin commanded a company of 
Mexicans in the battle of San Jacinto and after the 
dispersion of Santa Ana's army, was ordered with 
increased authority and rank to the command of San 
Antonio de Bexar. 

The disposal of the bodies of Santa Ana's men was 
another problem. More than half of them were said 
to be slain by the Texans. Their surviving comrades 
and the town authorities had no time to dig graves 
for them, so most of them were cast into the then 
swiftly flowing current of the historic San Antonio 



ing the names of Travis, Bowie and Crockett engraved on the 
inside of the lid, and carried to Bexar and placed inside th-a 
parish church, where the Texian flag, a rifle and sword were laid 
upon it for the purpose of being accompanied by the procession 
which was formed at 3 o'clock on the 25th of March; the honors 
to be paid were announced in orders of the evening previous, 
and by the tolling knell from daybreak to the hour of inter- 
ment; at 4 o'clock the procession moved from the church in 
Bexar in the following order: Field oflficers, staff officers, civil 
authorities, clergy, military not attached to the corps, and others; 
pall-bearers, coflin, pall-bearers, mourners and relatives, music, 
battalion, citizens. 

"The procession then passed through the principal street of the 
city, crossed the river, passed through the principal avenue on 
the other side, and halted at the place where the first ashes had 
been gathered. The coffin was then placed upon the spot, and 
three volleys of musketry were discharged by one of the com- 
panies; the procession then proceeded to the principal spot and 
place of interment where the grave had been prepared; the coffin 
had been placed upon the principal heap of ashes when Colonel 
Seguin delivered a short address in Spanish, followed by Major 
Western in English, and the ashes were buried." 

W. C. Barnes, a San Antonian, in his "'Combats and Conquests 
of Immortal Heroes," speaking of the 'two funeral pyres of the 
Alamo's heroic dead, says: "I have had the pyres' positions posi- 
tively located by those who saw the corpses of the slain placed 
there . . . Pablo Diaz, now living in San Antonio, then a boy of 
thirteen years, saw the bodies burning. So did Enrique Esparza, 
also still living." . . . Yoakum, in his "History of Texas," 
speaks of "pyres" but does not give the number. However, the 
matter of the conflicting number of pyres is of no grave import- 
ance, but — is there no one in all Texas, or in San Antonio itself, 
w^ho can give the exact location of the burial place of the final 
remains of the Alamo's heroes? 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 69 

River. For days tlie river flowed blood as well as 
water. But we will not longer dwell upon that awful 
scene and the horrors which ensued. 

In connection with the Mission Alamo* there is 
frequent inquiry as to the origin of a name so wholly 
unassociated with sacred persons or things. Common 
report in San Antonio tells us that once the grounds 
around the mission church were covered with a 
thick growth of cottonwoods — Alamos — and that the 
name arose from this circumstance. But there is an- 
other explanation which has been suggested by cer- 
tain documents in the archives of Bexar relative to 
the history of the Alamo, and which, if it does not 
point to the real origin of the name, at least brings 
to light an interesting coincidence. We may perhaps 
safely assume that the mission was called San Antonio 
de Valero as long as the friars remained in charge 
of it; that is, until 1793, when it was secularized.! 
From 1793 to 1801, the buildings were unoccupied; 
in the latter year the military force in Texas was 
increased by the addition of ''La Compania del Alamo 



♦Further in this connection it may be stated: After an absence 
of 62 years, the old bell of the Alamo was restored. It was found 
in the river in 1852 by John Twohig, who gave it to his father-in- 
law. Major J. S. Calvert. The latter gave the bell to his daughter, 
Mrs. C. K. Johnson, who presented it to her younger son, T. L. 
Johnson, who later gave it to the Alamo. -Sarah S. King in "San 
Antonio, Historical and Modern". 

tThe last of the Franciscans to remain at the Alamo after the 
order for the secularization of the missions, was Fra Jose Fran- 
cisco Lopez, parish priest of the pueblo of San Antonio de 
Valero. It was he who delivered the records of the mission to 
Don Galvino Valdez, curate of the villa de San Fernando y 
Presidio de San Antonio de Bexar, both forming the present San 
Antonio, by order of the Bishop of Monterey, in 1794. — Corner's 
"San Antonio de Bexar." 



70 San Antonio de Bexar 

de Parras" and the new company was quartered in 
the deserted mission. It remained there until 1813, 
when the revolution caused temporary abandonment 
of the mission. After the revolution the company re- 
turned to its old quarters, where it remained until 
at least late in the '20 's. 

In the report of the commander of the Texas troops, 
this company was usually referred to as the ''com- 
pany of the Alamo," and no doubt was the name by 
which it was popularly known. Was it not an easy 
step then, to attach the name of the company to the 
abandoned mission where it was quartered? If in- 
deed the cottonwoods grew on the mission grounds, 
this step was rendered all the more easy, and very 
probably the people soon forgot that the ' ' company of 
the Alamo" brought its name along with it when it 
first came to San Antonio. We may even think of 
the average citizen in the '20 's explaining to the 
stranger that the company of the Alamo was so-called 
because it was quartered in the mission of that name. 
Explanatory traditions frequently arise in this man- 
ner.* 

In the siege, the storming and the succumbing of 
the mission of the Alamo we can find no parallel even 
in the gallant charge at Balaklava, the struggle at 
Thermopylae's Pass, or in the rout at Waterloo. 



*From an article by Professor Bolton in the Quarterly of the 
Texas Historical Association, Vol. IV, No. 3. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 71 
CHAPTER X. 



THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS. 

San Antonio, Capital of Bexar County — The Council 
House Fight — President Lamar — General Woll in 
San Antonio — The Dawson Massacre — The Annex- 
ation of Texas — Texas' Treaties. 



After the fall of the Alamo San Antonio did not 
long remain in the hand of the Mexicans. Events 
followed each other thick and fast until the consum- 
mation of the revolutionists' determination came at 
victorious San Jacinto with its battle-cry, ' ' Remember 
the Alamo! Remember Goliad!" The Republic of 
Texas was formed, and Spanish and Mexican domin- 
ion being ended in this country, San Antonio ceased 
to be the capital of a foreign government. But ac- 
cording to the constitution of 1836, the precincts — or 
municipalities — then existing, being reorganized as 
the first or original counties of the new Republic, the 
county of Bexar was created, along with twenty-two 
others, on March 17th, 1836, and San Antonio made its 
capital. 

The campaign for the office of first president of 
the new republic was so filled with acrimony that two 
of the candidates for election, too proud and sensi- 
tive to bear the vilifications against them, committed 
suicide. As a result of the campaign but little life 



72 San Antonio de Bexar 

appeared in San Antonio until the opening of the 
General Land Office of the Republic at that place on 
January 4th, 1838. This was immediately followed by 
land claimants with surveying parties, holders of 
bounty warrants and headright certificates, as well as 
many others seeking employment or adventure. The 
surveyors and locators, desiring to select the best 
lands, often went beyond the settlements to begin 
operations. The Indians seeing them at work were 
not slow to believe what the Mexicans had told them, 
— that the white people would take all their hunting 
grounds and drive them off. The attacks on the fron- 
tier were in resistance to this movement.* 

Among those appearing in San Antonio at this time, 
seeking employment as a surveyor, was a young man 
destined to perform a most important and meritorious 
service in defence of the Texas frontier, and to gain 
much renown as a fearless border chief and partisan 
leader — soon to be known officially as Captain '' Jack^' 
Hays. San Antonio itself, although the most popu- 
lous and important town in the Republic of Texas, 
was still the extreme and isolated outpost of civiliza- 
tion; being greatly exposed to Indian forays it con- 
tinued headquarters for the defenders of the frontier. 
But in spite of Indian depredations, an avenue of 
trade was soon opened up between San Antonio and 
Mexico, thus making an approach to the peaceful arts. 

Early in 1840, a third attempt was made to treat 



=De Shields' "Border Wars of Texas.' 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. '73 

with the Comanches. This tribe having declared their 
wish to make peace with the whites, it was agreed 
that the chiefs would meet in San Antonio to sign the 
treaty and deliver all their white prisoners. The 
court house was situated at the corner of Market 
Street and Main Plaza beyond which was a small 
jailt and a large corrall, in which as a rule, the 
sheriffs, soldiers and rangers penned their horses. 
The Indian warriors met in conference with the civil 
and military authorities in the court house. Upon 
their arrival it was. found that they had but one 
prisoner, Matilda Lockhart. The Texans, knowing 
there were other prisoners, insisted that part of the 
band go back for the rest of the captives, leaving half 
a dozen of their chiefs as hostages until their return. 
They emphasized their wishes by ordering up Major 
Howard, captain of infantry of the Texas army, 
who, with a band of about twenty soldiers, soon 
entered the council room and cut off the retreat of 
the Indians from the rear. There was much excite- 
ment during which it was discovered that one of the 
Indian chiefs had a fixed bow and arrow concealed 
under his blanket. It was taken away and the Indian 
fired upon by the soldiers which was followed by a 
general attack upon the Indians, who sounding their 
deafening war whoop, fled, closely pursued by sol- 
diers and civilians. Several hand to hand encount- 
ers occurred. Some of the Indians took refuge in 

tMarket Street was then called "La Calle de Calabora", or the 
Calaboose Street, because of the location of the jail. 



74 San Antonio de Bexar 

stone houses and closed the doors, but not one of them 
escaped, the whole sixty-five being either killed or 
taken prisoners. This battle, known as the ' ' Council 
House Fight," took place on ^'El Dia de San Jose'' 
—St. Joseph's Day— March 18th. 

The next day the commanding officer went to the 
camp of the squaws back of the Market House and in- 
formed them of the death of the Indians, proposing 
that one of them carry the news to the tribe and bring 
back the remainder of the white captives. A middle- 
aged squaw volunteered, and going to the corral, was 
allowed to select a good mount. A few days later the 
Indians came to the edge of the city and sent in no- 
tice that they were there with the captives. Remem- 
bering the fate of their brethren they refused to come 
into town.* An exchange was made and the treaty 
signed at San Pedro Springs. 

In 1841, President Lamar with a considerable suite 
visited San Antonio. A grand ball was given him 
in Mrs. Yturri's ''long room" — the room being deco- 
rated with flags and evergreens, flowers not bein^ 
much cultivated at that time. General Lamar and 
Mrs. Juan N. Seguin, wife of the mayor, opened the 
ball with a waltz. 

It was during Lamar's administration that a law 
was passed giving each county nearly 15,000 acres of 
land, to be used in establishing public free schools. 



♦Rodriguez' "Memoirs of Early Texas" and "Memoirs of Mrs. 
M. A. Maverick", were used as authorities in this connection. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 75 

Early in 1842 San Antonio was again invested by 
a Mexican army — that country desiring to keep up 
such hostilities as might give color to the assertion 
that war between Texas and Mexico was not ended, 
thus preventing the former from becoming annexed 
to the United States. This army, consisting of about 
seven hundred men under Colonel Rafael Vasquez, 
took possession of the place and reorganized it as a 
Mexican town. Upon his appearance there occurred 
the ''Runaway of 1842/^ when many of the American 
women of San Antonio were escorted by the men of 
their families out of the city as far as the Guadalupe, 
after having burned many of their valuables and 
turned over furniture and other possessions to Mexi- 
can friends. Colonel Vasquez and his men remained 
but two days in the city, however, and conducted 
themselves officially with much decorum. 

Later in 1842, a report came into San Antonio that 
a band of robbers from Mexico was coming to loot 
the city. The citizens met together and organized two 
companies, one under Captain Manchaca with quar- 
ters in the old court house, while the other under 
Chauncey Johnson, an American, had quarters on the 
corner of Soledad and Main Plaza. As soon as this 
organization was affected, three Mexicans were sent 
with an escort to meet the band. It proved to be the 
regular army of Mexico, 1200 strong, under General 
Adrian WoU, who kept the three men prisoners. The 
firing of a gun just before daybreak not long after, 



76 San Antonio de Bexar 

and the sound of the music of the dancing tune '^La 
Cachucha, " proved a warning to its citizens that the 
Mexican forces had entered San Antonio. Manchaca 's 
company, deciding that they could not withstand a 
whole army, disbanded, but Johnson 's men determined 
to stand together and fight it out. Upon firing a vol- 
ley into the band, which killed fifteen or twenty of the 
musicians, they so incensed General Woll that he 
placed a small cannon where the Southern Hotel 
stands today, and fired into the men. Johnson raised 
the white flag after which his company, consisting of 
forty men, were all taken prisoners and later sent to 
Mexico. While the district court of Bexar County 
was in session, General Woll captured the entire bar 
of lawyers, together with a few citizens, fifty-three in 
number, holding these prisoners of war, among them 
being Judge Hutchinson, presiding, and Samuel A. 
Maverick, a young lawyer and one of San Antonio's 
distinguished citizens. The latter having escorted his 
family as far as La Grange during the historic ' ' Run- 
away, ' ' had then made a trip to Alabama and just re- 
turned to San Antonio to attend the fall term of 
court. 

While in triumphant possession of the city. General 
Woll was given a fine ball by sympathizing Mexican 
citizens. After the ball a report came that Colonel 
Jack Hays was camped on the Salado, a creek six 
miles from town, preparing to attack Woll. The 
latter left with a portion of his army to meet the 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 77 

Texans and a battle took place which lasted a day 
and night, but Hays could not be dislodged. By day- 
light the enemy had retreated toward the Hio Grande. 
During the battle of the Salado, WoU sent a company 
of cavalry to attack Dawson's men who were coming 
from Seguin to reinforce Hays. A massacre ensued 
in which most of the Americans were killed, some of 
them being cut down after having surrendered.* 
After the battle of Salado, the Texas forces again 
reoccupied San Antonio, but too late to rescue the 
prisoners, largely on account of the jealousy of the 
commanding officers of the Texas forces, Moore, More- 
head and Caldwell. Captain Matthew Caldwell was 
the hero of the Salado, for it was he who with a force 
of 250 men had withstood the attack on two sides by 
WoU's entire force, but Moore was the ranking offi- 
cer. Each division wanted its own commander to lead, 
leaving Hays who had already captured the Mexican 
artillery, to maintain himself unsupported. The 
troops returned in small squads, much disgusted, to 
San Antonio, Woll getting off in safety, his prison- 
ers already far on their way.* 

John Twohig, one of the Irish settlers of 
San Antonio, was among these prisoners, all 
of whom were incarcerated in the famous — 
or infamous — castle of Perote in Mexico. He 
made a sensational escape from prison and rode bold- 
ly in a carriage through the streets of the City of 



♦Rodriguez' "Memoirs' 



78 



San Antonio de Bexar 




Seal on Boundary Treaty between the United States and 
the Republic of Texas. 



Mexico. When he had learned that the Mexican army 
was inarching on San Antonio, knowing his store 
would be looted by them, he invited all the poor of 
the population to come and help themselves, after 
which he set fire to the building. Other captives 
were James L. Truehart, county attorney, and P. L. 
Buquor, later mayor of San Antonio. Samuel Mav- 
erick was liberated on March 30, 1843, through the 
good offices of General Waddy Thompson, a connec- 
tion of his, then United States Minister to Mexico. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 79 

The remainder of the prisoners were not released by- 
Santa Ana until June 16th of the same year.* Even 
after Hays reoccupied San Antonio the fugitive citi- 
zens of that place continued their flight, first to Gon- 
zales and afterwards to La Grange. 

In 1845 Texas became one of the United States of 
America, the only state to be annexed and not ad- 
mitted, into the union, this too, under terms of her 
own dictation, among others, that of retaining her 
eminent domain. Texas is also the only one of our 
United States which has contracted treaties with for- 
eign nations, among them a Treaty of Commerce and 
Navigation between the Kepublic of Texas and The 
Netherlands; a similar one with Great Britain under 
Vicoria, Regina, one of Political and Commercial Re- 
lations with France under Louis Philippe, and a 
Boundary Treaty with the United States under Mar- 
tin Van Buren, President. 



♦Memoirs of Mrs. M. A. Maverick. 



80 San Antonio de Bexar 

CHAPTER XI. 



HISTORY OF THE ''CHILD OF THE ALAMO'' 
SPEECHES. 

From a letter written in 1883 by Guy M. Bryan, of 
Brazoria. 



During the session of the Legislature of 1852, a 
bill was introduced by one of the Harris members of 
the House for the relief of Miss Dickinson, daughter 
of Almiram Dickinson, who fell at the Alamo. She 
was then about fourteen years of age, living with her 
mother in the city of Houston. The bill provided for 
an appropriation of money to educate her. 

My attention had not been called to the bill by its 
special friends, if it had any, and I was not familiar 
with its provisions when it came up for engrossment. 
At this time I was engaged in consultation with a 
member whose seat was in the back part of the Hall 
(of the old Capitol of the Republic, sitiiated on the 
hill where now stands the market house of the city 
of Austin), and was so much interested in the sub- 
ject of our conference that several members had spok- 
en on the bill before my attention was attracted to 
it. All who had spoken opposed the bill on principle. 
Texas then owed a debt of the Republic, for the pay- 
ment of which her public lands were pledged. Many 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 81 

members objected to appropriating money from the 
State treasury to pay any portion of the debt of the 
Kepnblic, no matter how meritorious the claim, to 
avoid making what might be regarded as a precedent. 
This was the cause and character of the opposition. 

I listened until I caught the drift of the discussion 
and merits of the bill by the time the "ayes" and 
*'noes" were ordered. When my name, being among 
the first, was called, under a rule of the House that a 
member could give reasons for his vote, I made the 
speech for The Child of the Alamo. 

Under the circumstances stated, no one before had 
spoken in behalf of the bill, but as the names of mem- 
bers were called, under the inspiration of the occa- 
sion, several spoke. James C. Wilson, from Mata- 
gorda and Wharton Counties, a Mier and Perote 
prisoner, one of the most eloquent men of Texas, made 
an appeal worthy of the occasion. Major Winfield, 
then from Cameron, quoted the legend, ' ' Thermopylae 
had her messenger of defeat, the Alamo had none." 
These speeches, reported by Weeks, were published 
at the time in the ' ' Southwestern American, ' ' edited, 
published and owned by Jacob and Phineas DeCor- 
dova, of Austin, where the words of the legend are 
published in quotation marks. These celebrated words 
do not occur in my original speech, nor in Wilson's. 
My speech, as delivered, was published on satin and 
presented to me by members of the House. 



82 San Antonio de Bexar 

During the candidacy of General Burleson for Vice- 
President, or when he ran for the Presidency against 
Anson Jones, he delivered a written speech to a west- 
ern audience near where Seguin or Prairie Lea is, 
and used the memorable words, I believe, for the first 
time. I have from early manhood thought this was 
the origin of this Texas legend. Had I known that 
many thought that I was the author, I should have 
availed myself of a favorable opportunity for correct- 
ing such impression. This error in regard to myself 
illustrates the facility with which popular delusions 
have been perpetuated in regard to others who have 
figured in Texan history. 

I would add that the bill for the relief of the 
Child {not ''Babe") of the Alamo passed the House 
by a handsome majority, but the Finance Committee 
of the Senate, at the head of which w^as that staunch 
old patriot, Jesse Grimes, would not report it for 
fear it would become a law, and establish the prece- 
dent that the State treasury, and not the lands only, 
were liable for the payment of the debt of the Re- 
public. The sale later of New Mexican territory to 
the United States enabled Texas to pay her debt.* 



♦But Texas' debt to the "Child of the Alamo" was never paid. 
She failed to secure the education which she craved and later 
died in Galveston, after a life of drifting, over which history has 
drawn a kindly veil. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 83 

Facsimile of the Child of the Alamo speech, de- 
livered in the Texas House of Eepresentatives, in 1852, 
by Guy M. Bryan, printed on white satin and pre- 
sented to him by the members of that House. 

CROCKETT. FANNIN.* BOWIE. 

Speech 

of 

Guy M. Bryan, 

Member from Brazoria, 

On a joint resolution for the relief of tlie infant 
daughter of Susannali and Almiram Dickinson. 
I intended, Mr. Speaker, to remain silent on this 
occasion, but silence now would be a reproach, when 
to speak is but a duty. No one has raised a voice in 
behalf of this orphan child,— several have spoken 
against her claim. I rise, sir, an advocate of no com- 
mon cause. Liberty was its foundation— heroism and 
martyrdom have consecrated it. I speak for the OR- 
PHAN CHILD OF THE ALAMO ! No orphan chil- 
dren of fallen patriots can send up a similar petition 
to this House,— none other can say, I AM THE 
CHILD OF THE ALAMO ! 

Well do I recollect the consternation which was 
spread throughout the land, when the sad tidings 
reached our ears that the ALAMO HAD FALLEN! 

*Just why Fannin's name was included with those of the 
martj rs of the Alamo can not be conjectured. 



84 San Antonio de Bexar 

It was here that a gallant few, *'the bravest of the 
brave, ' ' threw themselves between the enemy and the 
settlements, determined ''never to surrender nor re- 
treat." — They redeemed their pledge to Texas with 
the forfeit of their lives — they fell the chosen sacrifice 
to Texan freedom. Texas, unappraised of the approach 
of the invader, was sleeping in fancied security, when 
the big gun of the Alamo first told that the Attila of 
the South was near. Infuriated by the resistance of 
Travis and his noble band, he halted his whole army 
beneath the walls, and rolled wave after wave, and 
surge after surge of his mighty host against these 
stern battlements of freedom. In vain he strove — the 
flag of Liberty, the Lone Star of Texas, still streamed 
out upon the breeze, and floated proudly from the 
outer wall ; maddened, he pitched his tents and reared 
his batteries and finally stormed and took a black and 
ruined mass, the blood-stained walls of the Alamo — 
the noble, the martyred spirits of every one of its gal- 
lant defenders had already taken their flight to an- 
other fortress, not made with hands. 

This detention of the enemy enabled Texas to re- 
cuperate her energies, to prepare for that struggle, in 
which freedom was the prize, and slavery the forfeit 
— it enabled her to assemble upon the Colorado that 
gallant band, which but for Houston would there 
have fought and beat the enemy, and which eventual- 
ly triumphed upon the plains of San Jacinto and 
rolled back the tide of war upon the ruthless invader. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 85 

But for this stand at the Alamo, Texas would have 
been desolated to the banks of the Sabine. Then, sir, 
in view of these facts, I ask of this House to vote the 
pittance prayed for. To whom? To the only living 
witness (save her mother) of this awful tragedy — 
''the bloodiest picture in the book of time," and the 
bravest act that ever swelled the annals of any coun- 
try. 

Grant this boon! She claims it as the christened 
child of the Alamo, baptized in the blood of a Travis, 
a Bowie, a Crockett and a Bonham ! 

It would be a shame to Texas to turn her away, — 
give her what she asks, in order that she may be edu- 
cated and become a v/orthy child of the State; and 
take that position in society to which she is entitled 
by the illustrious name of her martyred father, made 
illustrious, because he fell in the ALAMO. 



86 San Antonio de Bexar 

TRAVIS. BONHAM. 

REMEMBER THE ALAMO. 

Speech of James C. Wilson, of 3Iatagorda, on the 
joint resolution for tJie Cliild of the Alamo, in the 
House of Representatives, 1852. 

The student of Grecian history, in every age, in 
every land, has felt his bosom glow with a noble fire, 
while reading of Leonidas and the three hundred who 
fell with him at Thermopylae; but when the Alamo 
fell, a nobler than Leonidas, a more devoted band 
than the Spartans, sank amid its ruins. They shed 
their blood for us — they poured out their lives as 
water for the liberties of Texas! and they have left 
us, of that bloody, yet glorious conflict, one sole me- 
mento, one frail, perishable keepsake, the child whose 
petition for assistance is now before us. Shall we 
turn her away? Shall we say, ''Though your father 
served the State in his life ; though he fell in the ranks 
of those men whose names history shall chronicle and 
nations shall delight to honor ; though you, alone, of all 
the children of Texas, witnessed that direful scene, 
whose bare contemplation makes the stout heart quail ; 
though the credit and honor of Texas are alike con- 
cerned in taking care of your childhood and watching 
over your youth, in providing for your happiness and 
respectability; though you, the Babe of the Alamo, 
will be an object of interest to all who may visit our 
State in after years, when the pen of the historian 
shall have recorded your connection with the early 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 87 

glories and sufferings of our now happy land— yet 
for all this, we will suffer you to grow up in uncul- 
tured wildness, in baneful ignorance, perchance in 
vice, rather than make this pitiful appropriation to 
enable you to render yourself capable of occupying 
that position is society to which you are in a peculiar 
degree entitled by the strange and thrilling circum- 
stances surrounding your life?" 

Sir, I trust such an act may not mar the history 
of Texas. Sure am I, by my vote it never shall. It 
is related of Napoleon, that when an officer whom he 
loved was wounded, and, from the narrowness of the 
defile in which the conflict raged, was in imminent 
danger of being crushed to death by the feet of con- 
tending friends and foes, while the emperor looked 
on in deep anxiety for his fate, a female, an humble 
follower of the army, with a babe on one arm, pressed 
through the melee to the wounded man, and passing 
her other arm around him, conveyed him to a place of 
comparative safety near the emperor ; but just as she 
turned away from the object of her daring and benev- 
olent solicitude, a ball struck her dead at the feet of 
Napoleon. He, taking the motherless babe in his arms, 
called a grenadier, saying, ''Bear this child to the 
rear, and see that it is well attended to, for hence- 
forth it is the Child of the Empire." Mr. Speaker, 
the Child of the Alamo is the Child of the State, and 
we can not treat her with neglect without entailing 
lasting disgrace upon Texas. 



88 San Antonio de Bexar 

CHAPTER XII. 



MILITARY SAN ANTONIO. 

Barracks Made Hostelries — ''The Menger" — Fort 
Sam Houston — Old Indianola. 



San Antonio as a natural strategic point, has been 
recognized by Aboriginals, Spanish, French, Mexi- 
cans, Texans, and both National and Confederate gov- 
ernments. Thus its development has been but a nat- 
ural growth, sometimes abetted and sometimes im- 
peded by local influences. The direct route over 
which St. Denis led the way in 1715* and which was 
afterward known as the ' ' Old Presidio Road, ' ' famous 
in later days as the ''King's Highway," was also 
called "The Old San Antonio Road." Its windings 
across Texas were determined mainly by the old trails 
stamped out by nature 's engineers, the buffalo and the 
Indian, and the location of Indian villages. Over 
this, Spanish troops marched and counter-marched 
across the country, through its valleys and over its 
purple hills. 

In founding the presidio of San Antonio de Bexar, 
the Spaniards showed their estimation of this location 
as a point of vantage. But the quarters for the offi- 
cers and the garrison were poor indeed until Febru- 
ary, 1773, when Baron Ripperda erected the first jail 



*Later researches disprove this statement. See page 7. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 89 

house and military quarters on the north side of Mili- 
tary Plaza. During all the revolutions and counter- 
revolutions that had plunged Texas into a series of 
military convulsions, the colors of the military post 
at San Antonio had varied with the fortunes of war, 
while the homes of the afflicted citizens and the dese- 
crated missions were but targets for the rifles of the 
invaders. 

After the admission of Texas into the union, troops 
were placed at various military posts at or near the 
line of Mexico for the purpose of aiding the pioneers 
to ward off the attacks of the Indians who still con- 
tinued hostile. There were many of these small posts 
or camps about the country, and some troops always 
stationed — as in previous regimes — at San Antonio 
But it was not until the termination of the war be- 
tween Mexico and the United States that action was 
taken on the part of the latter for the establishment 
of a permanent military post at San Antonio. Colonel 
Harney was on the ground as early as 1845, and in 
1846 the City Council offered the government 100 
acres at San Pedro Springs for that purpose. But 
the ground being low and easily commanded, the 
grant was rescinded on January 2nd, 1847. In the 
meantime soldiers remained in the city, and after a 
temporary sojourn at Military Plaza, the Alamo was 
occupied as a Quartermaster's Depot by Major Bab- 
bitt, this branch of the service continuing there until 
1878, with the exceptions of the period covered by 



90 San Antonio de Bexar 

the Civil AVar and a subsequent removal to Austin. As 
early as 1850 the United States held possession of this 
property pending a suit between Bishop Odin of the 
Roman Catholic church and the city to try title, and 
demurred to a demand from the latter for rent. The 
suit was won by the Bishop. 

In 1849 the Council again proposed a site for bar- 
racks on Military Plaza, but this was rejected on the 
score, especially, of insufficient room. At this time 
General Worth, commanding, who lived at the James 
homestead on Commerce Street, died of cholera.* 
There still being no regular barracks, he had estab- 
lished a camp in Mission Concepcion and another at 
the head of the river, officially known as Worth 
Springs. General Harney was restored to command 
after the death of General Worth, who was followed 
by General Percival Smith, with headquarters at 
Corpus Christi. 

In the early '50 's General Smith induced the Vance 
brothers, John and William, who had located in San 
Antonio in the late '40 's, to build barracks and quar- 
ters for officers, assuring them that the government 
would lease the building and make San Antonio a per- 
manent army post. Accordingly they erected a two- 
story stone building at what is now the corner of 
Houston and St. Mary's Street, a site selected, not 
with reference to any streets, but merely because of 
its being within easy distance to carry water from 



*His remains were placed in Greenwood Cemetery, thence taken 
to New York, where his monument now stands in Madison Square. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 91 

the river. This corner, now in the very heart of the 
down-town district, is more closely associated with 
the martial history of San Antonio than is any other. 
In addition to the building designed for offices for 
the commandant and quartermaster's department, 
barracks extending around a sort of quadrangle were 
erected for the soldiery. These buildings were first 
occupied by the government as a military post in 
1856. Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston took command 
after General Smith, until 1857, with headquarters at 
this place. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Robert E. Lee, that best loved 
of Southern men, took charge of the Department of 
Texas, February 21st, 1860, coming to San Antonio 
from Fort Concho, where he had been an officer under 
Colonel Joseph E. Johnston. He succeeded General 
Twiggs, who, having been unjustly court-martialed on 
a trivial charge, was soon reinstated and again in 
command at the outbreak of the Civil War. Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Lee used a room in the second story of the 
Vance building as his office, and a small house that 
stood near the river a short distance away on St. 
Mary's street, as his dwelling place. Both Lee and 
Johnston resigned their commissions at the beginning 
of the Civil War and joined fortunes with the South. 

General David E. Twiggs, commanding the depart- 
ment of Texas at the opening of the Civil War, was 
suspected on February 1st, 1861 — when the ordinance 
of secession was passed by the Texas Convention — of 



92 San Antonio de Bexar 

disloyalty to the Union cause, and Colonel C. A. Waite 
was sent to supersede him. On February 16th, three 
days before Colonel Waite 's arrival. General Twiggs 
surrendered to Colonel Ben McCuUoch, C. S. A., all 
posts and stores in Texas, and left with public honors. 
The number of posts surrendered was nineteen and 
troops "to be removed" in compliance with General 
Twiggs' agreement, was 2328, but on April 11th, 1861, 
Colonel Earl Van Dorn was sent by the Confederate 
authority to intercept and prevent the movement of 
the United States troops from Texas, and captured 
815 officers and men. General Twiggs was dismissed 
from the United States army March 1st, 1861; was 
commissioned major-general in the Confederate serv- 
ice and ranking general in the army and placed in com- 
mand at New Orleans. He retired soon afterward on 
account of infirmities due to old age.* 

The Confederate Headquarters were in the Vance 
building all during the war, over which floated the 
stars and bars. Among those who commanded it dur- 
ing that time, was General Hamilton P. Bee, a prom- 
inent San Antonian. It was while serving as Speaker 
of the House of Representatives in 1857, that the 
newly-created Bee County was named for his father 
Bernard E. Bee. In 1865 the Federal Headquarters 
were established in the ''French Building" until re- 
moved to Austin in 1869 under General Reynolds, the 
troops following in August and September, 1873. 



'Questions and Answers Department," Dallas News. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 93 

After the war the United States arsenal was removed 
from a building near the Veramendi House to the one 
on its present site, which was commenced November 
1st, 1859. In March, 1875, the Federal Headquarters 
were returned to San Antonio and established on 
June 25th, General E. 0. C. Ord commanding, in a 
building erected for the purpose by the Maverick 
family on Houston Street. During the same month 
the Quartermaster 's Depot on the Hill was completed, 
the city having donated this reservation in February, 

1870, which was accepted by General Grant in June, 

1871. The Mayerick building when no longer re- 
quired as military headquarters, was enlarged and 
opened in April, 1882, as the Maverick Hotel. 

In June, 1873, General Sheridan, W. W. Belknap, 
Secretary of War, and General Meyers came to San 
Antonio on business connected with the proper es- 
tablishment of the Headquarters of the Department 
of Texas. On May 6th, 1875, Major Belknap ordered 
the work on the Headquarters' building to be com- 
menced. The magnificent Sam Houston Post is the 
result of the appropriation of this land by the city, 
its acceptance by the government, and a suitable ap- 
propriation voted by Congress. It stands on Govern- 
ment Hill, below which lies the city, with the San 
Antonio River meandering southward on its tortur- 
ous way to the Gulf. 

The Posts of Texas were put in telegraphic com- 



94 San Antonio de Bexar 

munication with each other and the government in 
1876. 

When the building of Fort Sam Houston was im- 
minent, and the Vance brothers thought they would 
have a vacant property left on their hands, they refit- 
ted the offices of the old post, fronting on Houston St., 
into a hotel building, and it was called for many years 
the Vance House. The warehouses and barracks at 
the back continued to be used by troops until 1872. 

In 1870, Captain William Tobin first opened the 
doors of the Vance House, dispensing Southern hos- 
pitality until 1879. In 1885 the management was 
turned over to Ludwig Mahnke who continued to op- 
erate it for twenty-one years.* His name as host 
of the Mahnke may soon be forgotten, but his efforts 
as Park Commissioner for the City of San Antonio 
will long be perpetuated. x\ grateful people have 
erected to him a bronze monument in the center of 
Brackenridge Park, and have also named one of their 
spacious parks for him in appreciation of his effi- 
cient efforts in behalf of the parks of their city to 
which he gave personal attention in managing and 
beautifying, planting flowers, shrubs and trees, grass 
and ferns. 

But the first modern hotel to be erected in San 
Antonio was the Menger. William A. Menger was a 
conspicuous member of an old German family who 
built a brewery in San Antonio in the early days. It 



"The Hotel Gunter now stands on this site. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 95 

was the only one within a radius of many miles and 
was patronized by so many visitors — breweries in 
those days meaning much more than mere manufac- 
tories — that additions were necessary in order to 
shelter and accommodate the guests. In this way was 
the hotel business thrust upon the manufacturer. ' ' The 
Menger" was opened January 31st, 1859, and became 
the foregathering place for the people when San An- 
tonio was the only town in all that vast region that 
could be called more than a village. The hotel prop- 
erty was acquired not long after by Major James H. 
Kampmann, contractor and builder, who had con- 
structed the building. 

The Menger was antedated, however, by the less 
pretentious ''Plaza House", a two-story building and 
prominent institution in the stage-coach days of the 
country. It was a starting place of the stages to 
Seguin, Victoria, Port Lavaca, Indianola and other 
places of less importance. Steamers landed in those 
days at the two last named places, and until the last 
great hurricane — or tidal wave — of September 15th, 
1875, when the latter was swept completely and irre- 
trievably off the map, Indianola continued to be an 
important seaport town. To this flood San Antonio 
owed several of its citizens, fugitives of disaster, 
among them Daniel Sullivan and family, and Com- 
modore M. D. Monserate and wife, he having com- 
manded a vessel landing at the old port; they moved 
first to Cuero. 



96 San Antonio de Bexar 

The Padre Garza House was for many years an 
old landmark of the town in which abandoned bar- 
racks and old hostelries have been either modernized 
or razed to make room for modern structures. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



MRS. FRENCH'S REMINISCENCES OF EARLY 
DAYS IN BEXAR. 

Old Fords— The Ruins of the Alamo in 1846— Old 
Religious Customs — State of Affairs After War 
With Mexico. 



Reminiscences of this county of Bexar and city 
of San Antonio, will date back to our landing at Gal- 
veston, February 11th, 1846 ; whence we sailed on a 
schooner to Port Lavaca. After a stay of one month 
in that place, our residence began in this quaint and 
historic city. Before the siege of the Alamo, many 
American families had left and we found about one 
hundred families only, besides the native population, 
who were mostly descendants of Spanish ancestors. 

The population was confined within an area extend- 
ing from now Romana Street on the north ; the Alamo 
on the east; Nueva Street south, and Laredo Street 
across the San Pedro creek on the west side of the 
town. Many of the better class lived in houses clus- 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 97 

tered around the Main Plaza, east and west of the 
Cathedral of San Fernando. A narrow foot-bridge 
crossed the river just a little north of the present 
Commerce Street bridge. One ford at the ''Old Mill" 
and another at the Lewis Mill were used by the Mexi- 
can "carretas" for crossing the river. 

Ten years after the ' ' Fall of the Alamo ' ', we found 
the ruin choked with debris of stones, mortar and 
dirt, causing an embankment from the base to the 
top. From the roofless top we could view a tangle 
of mesquite bushes, the ditch on the east and a few 
huts or "jacalos" scattered around. One Sunday we 
crossed the narrow foot-bridge on our way to the 
Alamo. We ran up and down the "Hill" as we 
called it, when one of the party unearthed a cannon 
ball and rolled it down to the entrance. Three years 
afterwards, in 1849, very strenuous work was re- 
quired to put the church in shape for occupation by 
the U. S. Military Department. In clearing the ruin, 
away down in the rubbish, were found skeletons and 
other relics which attested the courage and fortitude 
of those heroes of undying fame. 

In 1846, the Lipan and other tribes of Indians were 
friendly to the people and used to come into the city 
to trade their pelts, beads, feathers and moccasins; 
but in 1847 they went on the war-path and depre- 
dated on all the white settlements until 1878. Quite 
an exciting incident occurred one day when several 
Indians with their squaws entered the only large 



98 San Antonio de Bexar 

mixed grocery and dry-goods store which was then on 
the southeast corner across from the Cathedral. A 
little girl just two years old was playing on the next 
corner south of the store, when a squaw picked her 
up, fondled her, then ran diagonally across the Mili- 
tary Plaza with her towards the Priest's House, the 
residence of Bishop Odin, west of which tangled mes- 
quite bushes grew rankly. Screams from the one in 
charge brought people to their doors who chased the 
squaw. She came back making signs that she was 
only in play. 

Many curious customs were then in vogue 
amongst the natives, such as the observing of 
certain Saints' days. The image of a woman. Saint 
Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico, was carried 
around the streets. Judas Day was celebrated by 
mounting the figure of an old rag-man on poles, fol- 
lowed by the rabble, rattling gourds covered with 
skins and filled with pebbles. The crowd threw sticks 
and stones at the image, and with hootings and noise 
the bedlam was deafening. On San Juan's Day {El- 
cinco-del-Mayo) , every Mexican who owned or could 
beg or borrow a mustang pony, bestrode the animal 
richly caparisoned with gaily colored blankets, on sil- 
ver-pommeled saddles and with silver spurs (if of the 
better class). They rushed around the plazas and 
narrow streets at a breakneck speed from early morn- 
ing until night. 

An accident that happened on May 5th, 1848, made 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 99 

an impression upon me which memory can never ef- 
face. My brother, then fourteen, had begged permis- 
sion to ride, but had been denied the privilege by my 
invalid mother. He disobeyed and was thrown right 
in front of the door. 

Another scene I witnessed from a window in the 
only two-story house then in town (Mrs. Riddle's). 
Diagonally across the Main street (now Commerce 
street) was a gun shop. In a government wagon 
standing in front, were two soldiers sitting. A des- 
perado passing by, who was the terror of the town, 
wore a broadcloth cape thrown over his shoulders and 
was smoking a cigar. One of the men remarked, ' ' He 
looks like a priest. ' ' Understanding the remark to be, 
''like a thief", the gambler dared him to repeat what 
he said, ordered the soldier to come down and cross 
the line of an alley adjoining. The man did so, when 
three shots rang out in succession; the poor fellow 
wounded, lay down on the pavement and was soon 
after carried by in a blanket by four soldiers right 
under our window. The desperado resumed his cape 
and cigar and walked with the greatest sang-froid 
down toward the Plaza. 

Many stragglers followed the army when the troops 
passed through at the close of the war with Mexico, 
and very severe remedies were resorted to by the au- 
thorities to control the unsettled state of affairs. One 
fellow, I remember, was said to have borrowed from 
a respectable citizen, a ''biled shirt," as he dubbed it, 



100 San Antonio de Bexar 

to be executed in. The Mexicans were also insulted 
and angered by the troops singing the following to 
the tune of ''The Maid of Monterey," a couple of 
verses of the refrain being: 

' ' Marchemos Mexieanos 
Marchemos con valor, 
Por la guerra de Texas, 
El Campo de honor. 

^'Entraron a Saltillo, 
Cada uno en su golon 
Pediendo el Mexicano 
Gi ' me a picayune ? 

''Aristo compro los naipes 
Ampudia les barajo, 
Santa Anna puso el monte, 
Y Taylor lo tombo." 

I must tell of another custom that was the begin- 
ning of the ' ' Pastores ' ', afterwards established across 
the San Pedro Creek. This celebration was held in 
the Cathedral of San Fernando. On Christmas Eve 
while being held, Mexicans dressed like Indians stood 
in line on each side of the front door and fired guns. 
SARAH L. FRENCH, San Antonio. 

Sarah L. (Webb) French, widow of James H, French, 
for many years mayor of San Antonio, was for over seventy 
years a citizen of the metropolis. Born in Detroit, Michi- 
gan, she was first brought by her parents to Port Lavaca, 
Texas, in 1839, when but three years of age. They did not 
remain long at this time, but returned in 1846, coming to 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 101 

San Antonio where they continued to reside. Mrs. French 
was fond of and a great favorite in society, having a bril- 
liant mind, while the prominence of her own and her hus- 
band's family gave her unusual opportunities to meet and 
know the leading Texans and visitors to the State before 
the war. She was one of the original members of the First 
Presbyterian church, whose corner-stone was laid with 
much ceremony, February 29, 1860. A genealogist of note, 
she was a member of various historical and patriotic so- 
cieties and served as first State Regent of Texas for the 
Daughters of the Revolution, also as regent of the San 
Antonio de Bexar Chapter of the Daughters of the Ameri- 
can Revolution, and a State Chaplain in 1914. She died 
one day after the twenty-second anniversary of the death 
of her husband. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



MODERN SAN ANTONIO* 

A ''Live" Town — The Coming of the French and 
Germans — Stage Coach Days — The ''Bat Cave" — 
The Plazas — The Cortina War — "La Ley de Mon- 
dragon" — Early Commercial Interests — The "Bat- 
tle of Flowers." 



Improvement was immediately manifest at San An- 
tonio after annexation: the town became a base of 
supplies for Chihuahua and other neighboring Mexi- 
can states, as well as for the frontier army stationed 
at a long line of forts established by the United States 
government. Many expeditions were made in connec- 



*The major portion of the facts as given in this chapter was 
furnished by a historical and statistical calendar outlined in 
William Corner's "San Antonio de Bexar". 



102 San Antonio de Bexar 

tion with lequisite supply and transportation, thus 
contributing materiallj^ to the town which soon be- 
came the * ' livest ' ' city in the southwest. 

In an address to the people dated January 15th, 
1849, the newly-elected mayor, J. N. Devine, urged 
Yery forcibly the question of education, peace, law and 
order. His action produced the effect of a "Sunday 
Closing" ordinance, April 5th, for the closing of Bar 
Booms, Workshops, etc., after 9 a. m. on Sunday. It 
is said that the tide thus set in changed San Antonio 
from a blood-stained border town to a progressive 
modern city. However, even as late as the early '80 's, 
it was the home of certain questionable amusements, 
sports and pastimes, — real bull fights and games of 
roulette and faro, where ' ' only the sky was the limit. ' ' 
The atmosphere was indeed spectacular. One could 
eat a dish of cliili, listen to the twang of a guitar, view 
the obstreperous Punch, the dancing bear, or had he 
an ear for sounds tinged with the commercial, could 
turn it toward the harangue of the patent-medicine 
man, splendid in coat studded with five-dollar gold- 
piece buttons. 

In the meantime, foreign emigration under the 
auspices of various societies, had become directed to- 
ward Texas. This was one of the most important 
sources from which the State, and naturally its me- 
tropolis, received its impetus through increasing popu- 
lation. The first French settlers of San Antonio came 
out from Alsace (then a French province) with the 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 103 

members of the Castro Colony in April, 1844. An 
important member of this colony was Dr. George 
Cupples, who had served as Staff Assistant Surgeon to 
the British Legion in Spain, going there during the 
first Carlist War in 1836. He afterwards returned 
to Paris where he met Henri Castro who induced him 
to emigrate to Texas. It was Dr. Cupples who all 
unwittingly^ located the present town of Castroville. 
He, together with others of the colonists, soon after 
settled permanently in San Antonio. 

It was during the years from 1845 to 1850, that 
most of the German colonists came to Texas. In 1845 
the '^Association of German Princes for the Protec- 
tion of German Emigrants in Texas" sent its first 
colonists to the State under Prince Carl of Solms- 
Braunfels. Landing at Port Lavaca, they started in- 
land, he traveling in princely style, while they walked 
or rode in ox-wagons. Becoming tired and discour- 
aged they went into camp at Victoria, while Prince 
Solms passed on to San Antonio.* Here he purchased, 
on March 14th, 1845, a tract of land from Rafael Gar- 
za and wife, Maria Antonio Veramendi, upon which 
the colonists were soon after settled and the town of 
New Braunf els begun. Prince Carl had with him a man 
named Bluecher, a relative of the noted Prussian gen- 
eral. He afterwards became a surveyor and surveyed 
most of the lands in this section. 

Among the colonies joining ''The Association 



♦Comal County, "Texas: Historical, Traditional, Legendary". 



104 San Antonio de Bexar 

of German Princes" in settling Texas, was 
a Socialist Society formed in northern Germany 
by about forty highly educated young men who 
had created quite a stir when their intentions 
of emigrating to Wisconsin, U. S. A., became 
known. These ''The Association" persuaded to come 
to Texas instead. They landed at the west Texas 
port of Indianola the latter part of August, 1847, and 
settled about 200 miles west of San Antonio on the 
Llano River. These colonists, headed by Dr. Ferdi- 
nand Herff of Hesse-Darmstadt, who had preceded 
them, suffered more of hardships and privations than 
any of the German settlers, being surrounded by 
hostile Indians and most distant from other habita- 
tions and traffic. Dr. Herff treated the Indians for 
wounds and sickness and was never molested by them 
as were most of the colonists. The Society had ex- 
pected to reap profits, but failed and in the end came 
to nothing, the colonists for the most part scattering, 
many going to San Antonio. Dr. Herff returned to 
Germany, there married, and in 1850 with his wife 
emigrated to San Antonio, where they continued to 
reside. For many years Dr. Herff was the Nestor of 
the medical fraternity in Texas. 

In 1849 occurred San Antonio's second cholera epi- 
demic, lasting a month or more, the first of this order 
having been in 1833. Many people fled from the city 
in ox-carts, some going to the mountains where they 
died of the disease that broke out among them and 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 105 



,.>>i^'^ ^"^ 




An Old Landmark near Mission San Juan — Home of one 
of the early German settlers. 



which was communicated to the Indians who attacked 
the camps and themselves fell victims to the dreadful 
scourge. One Sunday in 1849 was called ''Black Sun- 
day," twenty-nine people having died that night. 
Many noble women, members of prominent San An- 
tonio families — as well as of poorer ones — proved their 
heroism at this time, some dying while nursing pa- 
tients thus afflicted. Dr. Cupples did much hu- 
manitarian practice during those days of panic, dis- 
ease and death. Many of his patients were so poor 
as not to be able to afford lights, so the doctor always 



106 San Antonio de Bexar 

carried a candle in his pockets to be available in such 
homes. 

Late in the '40 's a stage route covering 680 miles 
was established between San Antonio and El Paso. 
Changes of animals were made at ''stations" built of 
rock and adobe, every twenty-five to forty miles, or 
whenever a stream, spring, or water-hole could be 
found. From El Paso the ''Butterfield Daily Mail" 
soon extended its route to San Francisco, and later 
to San Diego. On October 5th, 1857, the mail from San 
Antonio arrived at San Diego, California, having 
made the trip in twenty-six and a half days, the 
fastest time on record, and demonstrating the com- 
plete triumph of the southern route.* Later, how- 
ever, it made much better time. These coaches, be- 
sides carrying mail, also accommodated a few pas- 
sengers. They were always accompanied by an armed 
escort for protection against hostile Indians. As late 
as October, 1867, a coach was attacked by them en 
route from San Antonio, and two of the escort killed. 
On October 26th, 1868, the fastest stage record from 
El Paso was made — the journey occupying but six 
days to San Antonio. 

In 1854, under Governor Pease, a permanent pub- 
lic school system was established for Texas. In San 
Antonio the convent was also permitted to draw part 
of the school fund. Although well started in their 
operations when the Civil War broke out, nearly all 



*This route was afterwards followed by the Southern Pacific 
Railroad. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 107 

schools were soon closed. In the latter part of 1858, 
a German-English school was established in San An- 
tonio, which in 1870 was enlarged to accommodate five 
hundred pupils. To show the increase of the popu- 
lation in the city, in 1856 it was reported by the as- 
sessor as being 7,142, while in March, 1860, it was 
estimated at between 10,000 and 12,000. 

The ''Bat Cave" was commenced at the northwest 
corner of Military Plaza in 1850. This nickname was 
given to the combined city hall and city and county 
jail which stood at this place until torn down when 
the present city hall in the center was erected. In 
Spanish and Mexican times entries on the west side 
of the ''Plaza de Armas" were closed at nightfall by 
rawhides hung on chains stretched tightly across the 
narrow roads. Behind this settlers in the Plaza en- 
closure were safe from surprises by Indians and their 
arrows, rawhides being arrow-proof. ^ 

In later years this plaza became the center of dis- 
play of a unique Mexican feature of out-door life— 
the chili stand. At night it would be dimly lighted 
as to municipal illumination, but ablaze with small 
camp fires and flaming lamps, picturesque booths 
would spring up as if by magic, and odors of garlic 
and onions fill the air. Cliili and cJiili con came, 
tamales, tortillas, encJiiladas, frijoles and ''sopa de 
arroz," would be dispensed to the curious and ex- 
pectant tourist. Under the brilliant modern electric 
light, which has hunted these al fresco restauranteurs 



108 San Antonio de Bexar 

from plaza to plaza, the scene could never be repro- 
duced, could never serve to hold echoes of such a 
characteristic past. 

On March 23rd, 1857, appeared the first issue of the 
San Antonio Daily Herald, the oldest daily newspaper 
in Texas. The Weekly had appeared three years be- 
fore. 

In 1858 the Vance brothers gave one lot of land for 
the erection of a place of worship for St. Mark's con- 
gregation. Mr. S. A. Maverick also donated four city 
lots for church purposes. On October 3rd, 1874, the 
bell for St. Mark's arrived from Troy, New York. It 
was cast from an old cannon ball dug up in the Alamo, 
and the expense of the casting was paid by S. A. 
Maverick. The present cathedral was consecrated 
April 25th, 1881, the corner-stone being laid Decem- 
ber, 1859, under Rev. Lucius A. Jones, rector. The 
Civil War interrupted the progress of building and 
not until 1873 was the work resumed, this was under 
Rev. W. R. Richardson, who became rector of the 
parish in June, 1868. 

In 1859 the first wool was bought and warehoused 
in San Antonio, which was thus made a home market 
for this product. In 1875, — 600,000 pounds were mar- 
keted. Berg's old mill for washing wool, near San 
Juan Mission, is now a noted landmark. 

A San Antonio citizen. Captain "William Tobin, 
later mine host of the Vance House, greatly distin- 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 109 

guished himself in what was called the '' Cortina 
"War". Juan Nepomuceno Cortina, heir of the orig- 
inal grantee of what is called the Espirito Santo tract 
on which Brownsville is located, but who lived at Mat- 
amoras, Mexico, just across the river, raided Browns- 
ville in 1859, with some fifty or sixty followers, appar- 
ently for plunder, but as a matter of fact, five people 
were killed, they being those against whom the Mexi- 
cans had grudges.* Cortina seems to have been a 
bandit who operated on the Kio Grande border all 
the way from Brownsville to Laredo, stealing stock 
and terrorizing the people. The whole of San An- 
tonio was in great excitement because of the Browns- 
ville invasion, and Captain Tobin, with a company 
consisting of sixty men, hastened in November to re- 
lieve the frontier of the Cortina aggressions. Colonel 
^'Rip" Ford, the noted Indian fighter, with Captain 
Tobin had charge of the Texas forces who met and de- 
feated Cortina in battle near Brownsville, December 
27th. The following February, Colonel Robert E. Lee 
was ordered to follow Cortina into Mexico if neces- 
sary. But the bandit had evidently decided to cease 
his aggressions, history being silent regarding any 
further disturbance on his part. 

Among the volunteers who came to San Antonio in 
September, 1861, to join the Sibley expedition to clear 
New Mexico of the Union forces, w^as a certain Bob 



*From "Cameron County" by Frank Cushman Pierce, In 
■"Texas: Historical, Traditional, Legendary". 



110 San Antonio de Bexar 

Augustin, who with others of his ilk, arrived from 
Gonzales. He Avas soon after arrested for disorderly 
conduct, having upset and over-ridden the chili stands 
on Main Plaza. He was released by the mayor, but 
immediately after taken in charge by a mass of deter- 
mined citizens, which resulted in one of the most ex- 
cited hangings in the history of the city, performed 
by the Vigilant Committee, and with the unanimous 
consent of a large number of citizens. The tree at 
the southeast corner of Main Plaza on which he was 
hung, was soon called ''La Ley de Mondragon," and 
a popular ballad made to fit the theme. 

On the 18th of March, 1861, many of the citizens 
of San Antonio swore allegiance to the Confederate 
States under District Judge Devine. Thomas J. De- 
vine, Samuel A. Maverick, and P. N. Luckett were 
the three Confederate commissioners who received the 
property surrendered to San Antonio by General 
Twiggs two months before. 

Soon after the close of hostilities between the North 
and South in 1865, soldiers arrived at San Antonio^ 
as at other important cities of Texas and of the South, 
and ''reconstruction" began. 

The only communication between San Antonio and 
Laredo on the Rio Grande, even later than 1866, was 
by means of four trips per month made by a mail- 
rider. In the early '70 's ox-carts — carretas — were 
seeing their great day. The old-fashioned freighters, 
or prairie schooners, were still largely in evidence. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. Ill 

Commerce Street was crowded with such trains, each 
wagon drawn by from eight to sixteen mules with 
bells dangling from their collars, loading goods for 
Mexico, as well as Texas points, or bringing merchan- 
dise from the former. It required three months for 
goods to reach San Antonio from Cuero, Yorktown, 
and Powder Horn (one of the names by which Indian- 
ola was designated). After torrential rains — which 
were frequent — Commerce Street, as well as Main 
Plaza, were almost impassible. Vehicles stuck in the 
mud for days. In the old days Main Plaza was one 
of the most important parts of the town. Stockmen 
and country folks would gather there for miles around 
at which time it was a treeless market. It was on 
February 27th, 1870, that a Committee on Public Im- 
provement reported favorably on the planting of 
trees on this plaza. In ante-Independence days that 
portion of the city around Market Street from Main 
Plaza was outside of the thicldy settled limits. It was 
called the ''Potrero, " or place for horses, all horses 
of travelers being put there for the night. 

The Indians continuing troublesome near San An- 
tonio, a mass meeting, which proved ineffective, was 
held in 1868 to devise means for removing the Kick- 
apoos from Texas and the Mexican border. In the 
following January, Judge George H. Noonan 's special 
court was dispersed at Uvalde by Indians of this 
tribe. On February 17th, 1870, a band of Lipans only 
nine miles out from San Antonio, tried to stampede a 



112 San Antonio de Bexar 

bunch of mules in charge of a Mexican who held on 
to the bell mule. Failing in this the Indians shot 
the man with arrows which were afterward gathered 
and handed to General Carleton. 

The first industry in Texas to gain commercial 
importance was cattle-raising; wire fences were then 
unknown and the broad prairies furnished '^free 
grass" to vast herds of "long horns." In the early 
'70 's the cattle trail to Kansas was in constant public 
use. Ten years later fence-cutting and burning be- 
coming rampant, Governor Ireland issued a procla- 
mation of severe character against fence-cutters, and 
also against persons unlawfully enclosing land by 
fences. In December, 1883, an indignation meeting 
of citizens at San Antonio Avas held strongly condemn- 
ing wire cutting. At the Cattlemen 's Convention held 
in that city in December, 1884, the principal topic 
discussed was that the National Cattle Trail would 
have to go ''before the land grabbers and the rail- 
roads. ' ' In February of the following year the Mav- 
erick Ranch fence on the Bandera road was cut. By 
1890 railroad connection between Texas and northern 
markets caused the disuse of the old trail. 

Another commercial enterprise, one which affected 
all the markets of Texas, came through the slaughter- 
ing of the buffalo in West Texas. An advertisement 
in a San Antonio paper of May 24th, 1874, called at- 
tention to ''dry buffalo meat for sale, just from the 
plains." In January, 1877, buffalo hides and meat 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 113 

were being received in large quantities ^'from the 
frontier" — a few months later ten loads of buffalo 
hides had been brought to town from ' ' out west. ' ' The 
bleaching bones of the slaughtered buffalo later made 
San Antonio one of the shipping points for this great 
fertilizer. 

Stage, ambulance, and the government telegraph* 
were the only means of communication between San 
Antonio and the outside world until the coming of its 
first railroad, '^The Sunset" or the G. S. F. & S. A. 
On the night of February 19th, 1877, a torchlight pro- 
cession, 8000 strong, celebrated the event. From that 
time San Antonio ceased to be a frontier town and 
began to put on city ways. 

In 1891, when President Harrison was making his 
Southern tour, with the members of his cabinet, San 
Antonio, in trying to out-do all other towns in cor- 
diality and the novelty of entertainment, decided upon 
a ''Battle of Flowers." By a happy chance the date 
of his visit fell on April 21st, San Jacinto Day, and 
upon this memorable anniversary, the ''battle" was 
given; but instead of the whizzing of bullets and 
shrieking of shells, there was a scene of revelry — no 
more deadly guns, cannons and sabres — flowers be- 
came the only missies used. Because of the initial 
success of the one day's fete, it was later lengthened 
into a week of carnival. Since 1915, King Antonio of 



*On December 5, 1883. the abandoned wires of the Military 
Telegraph were purchased by the Erie Telephone & Telegraph 
Company. 



114 San Antonio de Bexar 

the order of Quivira has come to usher in the fetes 
of Fiesta San Jacinto, which has become a patriotic 
and social annual festival of San Antonio. 

One of the founders of this ''Flower Battle/' 
and for some time president of the organization, 
was Mrs. Duncan C. Ogden, who as Elizabeth 
Cox, came to Texas from Lexington, Kentucky, 
in 1832, and lived under five of its flags. 
She was one of the bravest of the State's 
pioneer women, passing heroically through all the pri- 
vations, hardships and terrors incident to those times 
that tried men's souls. Her husband. Captain D. C. 
Ogden came to San Antonio in 1838 from New York, 
and took an active part in the making of early Texas 
during the days of the Eepublic and the era follow- 
ing. He was among those carried captive to Perote 
prison, escaped as did John Twohig and others, but 
was captured and returned to incarceration to be 
later released through the efforts of Henry Clay. He 
was soldier, patriot, and orator, his wife a worthy 
help -mate. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 115 
CHAPTER XV. 



THE SAN ANTONIO RIVER— ITS ACEQUIAS 
AND LEGENDS. 

The Council of the Indies — Historic Overflows — 
^'The Head of the River." 



When the early Spanish missionaries traveling over 
the parched western plains, came suddenly upon the 
San Antonio valley, how their hearts must have 
throbbed with surprise and delight at sight of the 
gushing springs, the beautiful, clear, strong-flowing 
river and the goodly lands on either side ! 

The first irrigation ditches, acequias, in Bexar and 
its vicinity were built by these unselfish and practical 
padres. To their correct estimate of the value of this 
water and their appreciation of the facilities for its 
distribution, San Antonio de Bexar owes its existence 
today. A knowledge of the building of the acequias 
— monuments to a simple wisdom and an unfailing 
industry — means an insight into the early history of 
San Antonio. Following the mission era and during 
the colonization period, the sale of lands in Texas 
was but a suggestion made to the ruling powers by 
the successful operation of the system by the United 
States of the North, but even then lands incapable of 
irrigation were deemed of no value except for pas- 
turage. 



116 San Antonio de Bexar 

The Council* of the Indies sitting in Seville, its 
members appointed by the crown to direct and con- 
trol the Spanish colonies all over the world, devised 
exhaustive regulations and laws relative to acequias, 
the San Antonio River from source to mouth, being a 
possession of the king. The story of the formation 
of a company of share-holders, the permission given 
by his Majesty the King of Spain through his repre- 
sentative, the governor, the election or appointment 
of the acequiador — constructor of the acequias — the 
drawing of the lots among the regadors — shareholders 
— for the siiertes — literall}^, ''his luck" — of the re- 
gadors — irrigated lands — the blessing of the water, 
and the great feast on the day of their completion, 
sounds like a mediaeval romance. 

The king granted these rights upon condition that 
the owners thereof should keep the channels clean and 
clear ; the locks, water-gates, sluices, fences, aqueducts, 
etc., in proper repair, and upon further condition that 
each owner would agree to keep one horse, with arms 
and ammunition, always in readiness for the protec- 
tion of the colony. The Pajalache — or Concepcion 
ditch — was the oldest of the acequias, \ and its course 
may still be seen in places. It was provided with 
water b}^ a high dam built across the river a short dis- 

*The code and records of this Council were known as the "Re- 
capitulation of the Indies." — Dr. Cupples in "San Antonio de 
Bexar", by Corner. 

tit was Francisco Rodriguez who laid out most of these ditches 
and his family are today occupying land thus granted. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 117 

tance above where the dam of the old Lewis mill was 
later constructed. 

In the county records may be found many 
documents relating to the Upper Labor Ditch. 
It was Baron Juan Maria de Ripperda,* governor of 
the Province of Texas, who seeing the need for irri- 
gated lands lying between the upper part of the San 
Antonio River west and the San Pedro Springs, after 
much diplomatic detail, decreed that this acequia be 
built. It was in a decree dated at the ''Royal Garri- 
son of San Antonio de Bexar and city of San Fer- 
nando," on the 28th day of April, 1777, that he de- 
clared the work finished as far as La Lomita de Viega 
and that the first distribution of suertas could be made 
to the twenty-five persons entitled to them and two 
for Foribis Fuentes, the ex-acequiero. The second and 
final drawing occurred on the 8th day of March, 1778, 
the total number of suertes distributed being fifty-two. 
The shareholders were so dissatisfied, however, with 
their apportionments and their quarrels waxed so hot 
that the governor, by petition, used his influence to 
keep the peace. 

A modern branch of the Upper Labor ditch 
was the Alazan ditch, constructed from plans 
made by Mr. Giraud in 1872. Frequently men- 

n^tS'^ ^"" "^"^e and titles were Don Juan Maria de Ripperda, 
Colonel of Cavalry, Governor of the Province of Texas, its Mis- 
sions. Conquests and Frontiers. Commander of Arms (or Forces) 

R.ii'f ^^ri^^-''"'^.^^^''''^"^^.^"'^ N^^^'a Leon, Captain of the 
Regal Presidio of San Antonio de Bexar, by his Majesty the 



118 San Antonio de Bexar 

tioned in the documents relating to the Upper 
Labor Ditch of 1776 to 1784, was the San Pedro 
acequia, probably not many years the junior of the 
Pajalache. Issuing from the east side of the head- 
waters of San Pedro Creek its purpose was to supply 
water to the Villa Capital de San Fernando as well 
as to irrigate the lands along its course. 

Each ''mother" ditch — madre aceqiiia — had its lat- 
erals, the laterals in turn had branches, here, there 
and everywhere, the network of irrigating ditches, to- 
gether with the river, making of the valley a garden 
spot. Where these ditches intersected, a crossing was 
made by means of a ''canoa" as the Spanish records 
have it — a canoe or hollowed log of cypress. 

The Alamo Madre ditch was built to supply water 
to the Alamo mission. Its source was the head of the 
river, and its course a little east of River Avenue. 
One of its branches, until very recently, flowed by the 
east end of Alamo church (the channel still remains), 
and it is said to have supplied the besieged with water 
in the terrible struggle of 1836. 

The control of the acequias has long since left pri- 
vate hands; in 1850 Captain J. H. Beck became the 
first American manager. 

In spite of its present narrow banks and 
shallow channels the overflows of the once proud 
waters of the San Antonio River and its trib- 
utaries, have caused serious damage. The first 
mentioned in history seems to have been on July 5th, 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 119 

1817, when according to Antonio Martinez, governor 
of Bexar, a cloudburst with the consequent rising of 
the waters of these rivers out of their banks, made 
victims of many inhabitants, as well as much live- 
stock. The inundation served to temporarily prevent 
the sale of a considerable quantity of land which had 
been confiscated b}^ the government from owners who 
had joined the revolutionists.* 

Another historical reference is given to a big over- 
flow of the river which occurred March 17th, 1865, 
when a man was drowned on Commerce Street, and 
two children also lost their lives. In September, three 
years later, a public meeting was held to devise means 
of turning the Olmos Creek into the Alazan to pre- 
vent overflows. In those days the waters of the San 
Antonio were still pure and sparkling, their current 
swift and strong. Boats lined the shady banks or 
moved over the face of the waters. 

The ''Head of the River." 

The ''Head of the River," about four miles from 
the center of the city, has always been noted as a place 
of exquisite beauty, and has been the scene as well 
of historical and social events of more than usual in- 
terest. The San Antonio River has its rise in numer- 
ous noble springs that gush from the sides of rocky 
ledges, or boil up here and there in the green valley 
shaded by gigantic, moss-laden oaks and carpeted in 



"Barnes* "Combats and Conquests of Immortal Heroes". 



120 San Antonio de Bexar 

the spring-time by gorgeous wild flowers. The larg- 
est of these is known as the Worth Spring, since 
here General Worth camped on his return from the 
Mexican war, and here died with cholera in 1849. 

When Giraud made the ''Original City Survey" 
after the incorporation (5th Document) of the City 
of San Antonio in 1842, the ''Head of the River" — 
or Worth Spring — was accounted as belonging to its 
public domain and recommended by him so to re- 
main, but in spite of this the hand of commercialism 
has marked it for its own. 

The first house to be erected on this property was 
that of James R. Sweet, mayor of San Antonio from 
1859 to '62, and father of Alexander Sweet of "Texas 
Sif tings" fame. The Sweets kept open house and one 
of the social events of the times was a large reception 
given to General Sam Houston. Soon after the close 
of the war the property passed into the hands of 
George W. Brackenridge who built an elegant house 
in style of architecture suited to the natural beauties 
of the landscape, the old Sweet home remaining as a 
picturesque annex to the more modern building. For 
years this was the show place of Texas and many peo- 
ple of national fame found entertainment under the 
hospitable roof of Colonel George Brackenridge and 
his sister, Miss Eleanor. Later they built a palatial 
home on a wonderful eminence of the Brackenridge 
estate overlooking the forests of Brackenridge Park 
with its winding roads and silvery ribbons of water 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 121 

flowing from the Head of the River, through its en- 
tire length, marking the magnitude of the gift of 
Colonel Brackenridge to the City of San Antonio. 

Origin of the ''Head of the Ri\t?:r" — A Legend of 
^'the Blessed Margil." 

When Don Domingo Ramon, who was first to ride 
over this country came in company with his haughty 
dons, he carried in his train some holy Franciscans to 
convert the natives from their adoration of the Mighty 
Manito to that of the Lowly Nazarene. Many leagues 
of trackless waste had been covered in toilsome 
marches and both riders and steeds had grown 
a-weary, when an ever-increasing thirst became well- 
nigh as intense as the sharp thorns and spines of the 
cacti and chaparral through which they were passing. 
Where once were swollen streams now presented only 
wide lines of dry cracked earth. With parched and 
heavy tongues they still pressed on, straining their 
eyes for a sign of verdure and of life-giving water. 
The following day they deflected from their course, 
believing that a distant view had shown a vision of 
that for which they longed. On reaching the valley 
they found the verdure — nourishing grasses and a hos- 
pitable shade — but still no water. 

Now among the holy Fathers of that company was 
one so pious as to be known as the ''blessed Margil.'* 
It was he who, after the monks had dismounted and 
unfastened the girths of their famished steeds, led 



122 San Antonio de Bexar 

them in prayer, entreating the loving Father of all 
to send water for the company and for their patient 
chargers. So great was the faith of these holy men 
of the power with God of the blessed Margil, that 
their hearts were filled with child-like trust as they 
listened to the words of supplication and praise that 
fell from the lips of their leader. With supplicating 
eyes turned heavenward, the holy man of God finally 
discovered clusters of purple grapes growing on vines 
high up on the stately oak under whose branches he 
and his consecrated companions were kneeling. When 
he had arisen from his knees, knowing in his heart 
that his prayers had been answered, he said, pointing 
upward, *'Look, my brothers! Amid the branches of 
this tree grow grapes which will assuage our thirst. 
Let us give thanks to God who has sent them to us ! " 
Slowly he climbed the larger vine and when almost 
ready to touch the luscious fruit, he slipped and fell 
back to the root of the vine which his sudden jar had 
pulled out from the ground. To the great delight 
and marvel of all there sprang forth from the goodly 
orifice made by the uprooting, a bold stream of clear 
and sparkling water. Before drinking they all knelt 
while the blessed Margil gave fervid thanks for the 
great blessing. And even today ''The Head of the 
River" remains the same. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 123 

The ''Spring of the Huisache" — an Apache 
Legend. 

The Indians called it the ' ' Spring of the Huisache, ' ' 
and no other name describes the environment so well. 
We call it the ''Head of the San Antonio River," but 
that tells nothing of the golden crowned huisache, the 
meal-laden mesquite, the bitter laurel, each and all 
iron-rooted and of vigorous growth. 

The gray dove knew the haunt, but in those days 
it did not mourn. A legend tells the reason with a 
lover's tale; tells of an old chieftain who had two 
beautiful daughters, "Flower of Gladness" and 
' ' Flower of Pity, ' ' the one demure and sad ; the other 
light-hearted and joyous. A young warrior found 
each to fit his varying moods, and secretly wooed both 
maidens. 

One day the chief overheard gossiping tongues. 
Hatred and wounded pride, nursed through an au- 
tumn chase, grew into revenge, until he slew the fickle 
warrior at the "Spring of the Huisache," and left 
the body where "Flower of Pity" daily sought her 
lover. In despair she took a hunting knife from his 
lifeless form and followed her lover to the "Spirit 
Land." 

A little later "Flower of Gladness" came down for 
a cooling drink and chanced upon the tragedy. The 
shock was more than strength and reason could bear. 
The light vanished from heart and mind, and up and 
down the river the maiden wandered calling ever, 



124 San Antonio de Bexar 

''Pity," "Flower of Pity, come," until Manito let 
the soul rest, to find expression in the dove's sad 
note. From the warrior's side another spring gushed 
forth, and near by, upon a rocky ledge, there rests a 
semblance of "Flower of Pity" — a petrified boulder 
which sends forth another rivulet — the three springs 
finally uniting in the San Antonio Kiver. 

"When the Springs Cease to Flow" — an Apache 
Legend. 

When the light foot of the Apache first pressed 
the green carpet flecked with blue-bonnets and wine- 
cups, crept through the tangled wild-wood and beheld 
the waters gushing from under the great rocks, he 
exclaimed, "Oyo del Rio!" (the eye of the river.) 

Here the great chief pitched his tepee and spent 
many happy days under the moss-laden trees, the 
singing birds and the rippling waters, his own Wanda 
being his constant delight, while the young braves 
killed the deer, and the squaws prepared the veni- 
son. But a shadow fell: At first a fleeting summer 
cloud, then dark as the storm's angry roar. A young 
brave, more comely and more daring than the rest, 
came a-wooing, and the dark-eyed maiden gladly left 
her old father to follow in the new comer's sure and 
steady footsteps, as he climbed the rocky banks and 
made paths for her through the thick mesquite bush. 

' ' It shall not be, ' ' cried the old warrior. ' ' My little 
one shall not leave me. * ' 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 125 

But life's young blood runs high, and wrath is no 
match for love. Away went the happy young lovers, 
while the old warrior left alone, bowed his head and 
died of grief. The water sprites that had sung the 
live-long day were hushed, and said, ' ' This never shall 
happen again. If another maiden weds we go away. ' ' 

As the years went by the dark-skinned race gave 
place to the pale face. There came to dwell here 
sprightly little maidens, but they all said ''nay" to 
their wooers, and the water sprites continued to sing 
and the flowers to bloom as of yore. 

But, alas, again the shadows fell, and there was no 
more singing under the trees and the flowers hung 
their heads, for another maiden was to wed and it was 
only after the pious sisterhood* came to dwell on its 
banks that the sprites once more dared begin their 
merry songs and the flowers renew their bloom. 

Discovery of the San Antonio Valley — an Apache 
Legend. 

Out of the mystic west Apache warriors traveled 
across the Staked Plains to find the traditional hunt- 
ing grounds of their fore-fathers — a land of bison and 
limpid water. The way was long and tedious, with 
hunger and thirst ever in hot pursuit. Thus it was 
the ''moon of dead leaves" before the remnant of the 
Apache band found the pass. 



*"The Sisters of the Incarnate Word." Colonel George Brack- 
enridge and his sister, Miss Eleanor, neither of whom have mar- 
ried, reside near "the Head of the River," thus, as it were, fur- 
ther fulfilling the legend. 



126 San Antonio de Bexar 

It was the year of the great drought. Mountain, 
mesa and plain stood abandoned by the spirit of na- 
ture. The brown earth bore no sign save the mystic 
sand paintings, symbolic prayers of the medicine men 
to the forces of nature. War-painted, sinewy bodies 
shone against the golden sunset at the road where 
the tepees had been reared, but no smoke ascended, 
nor welcome awaited, for the medicine men chanted 
only of famine. Ravenous wolves howled of hunger, 
and the turtle doves mingled their sad notes with the 
dirges of the women. 

Tremanos, a youth of the Apache tribe, ascended 
wearily to a hill top. He turned to the mesa; red 
phantoms blurred the horizon, while from over the 
mountain the hot breeze brought rythmical music from 
the flageolet of a spirit warrior. To the west, the lurid 
sunset mocked, as a burning tomahawk, over the land 
of his fathers. Gaunt shadows, grim death, weird 
sounds, stood whispering as Tremanos looked south- 
ward where gray billows of sage brush reached on- 
ward to infinite space. But, a miracle — beyond the 
gray, a bit of fern-like green seemed to follow the 
valley. 

Tremanos called, ''Come, my people, come; it is 
the river. Water and bison await us. Follow my 
footsteps to Tejas the Beautiful." 

Silently wigwams were folded by half-hearted 
squaws. Onward for hours they journeyed to the 
great bend of the Hill of Laurel; there, eastward 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 127 

and southward high tula grass marked the water 
course. Gaunt faces were transmuted, gaunt hands 
were lifted in prayer to the forces of nature, gaunt 
bodies bowed over the ford of Las Tejas. 

The Blessed Margil's Enchantment — A Legend* 
OF THE San Antonio Valley. 

While Don Ramon with his doughty dons and little 
band of missionaries, was traveling slowly eastward 
out of the golden west, they found themselves sudden- 
ly surrounded by a swarm of blood-thirsty savages. 
Padre Margil knelt in earnest prayer for deliverance 
and called upon all in the train to do likewise. They 
dismounted, and even the cavaliers joined in suppli- 
cation. Finally Don Ramon exclaimed, "Look, the 
savages are upon us, — it were much better to fight 
than to pray." To which the blessed Margil, rising 
from his knees, answered, ''Noble and illustrious 
Knight, I see no Indians, only a herd of inoffensive 
deer browsing contentedly about us." Even so, the 
fervent prayer of faith had transformed the band of 
savages into a herd of harmless deer. All united in 
grateful thanks for their miraculous deliverance. Al- 
though the Spaniards were greatly an-hungered they 
refrained from killing any of the enchanted animals 



*This legend, as well as the other Indian legends herein given, 
is from the gifted pen of Sarah S. King, daughter of Charles King, 
who was three times mayor of San Antonio during the '50's. Miss 
King is prominent in both the school and literary work of her 
native city. 



128 San Antonio de Bexar 

and pressed onward in the journey which soon led 
them into the valley of the beautiful San Antonio 
River, thence eastward into the land of Tejas. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



LANDMARKS OF OLD SAN ANTONIO. 

Ecclesiastical, Official and Industrial Remains — San 
Pedro Park — Ben Milam's Last Resting Place — 
Noted Caves. 



In spite of the hallowed associations which connect 
San Antonio with a past wonderful in history, she 
stands today primarily a metropolis and a commercial 
center with a tributary territory of unlimited possi- 
bilities. Her winding streets and up-to-date build- 
ings seem incongruous when viewed beside the few 
landmarks that still remain untouched by the hand 
of the utilitarian. 

The San Fernando Cathedral, once merely a 
Parish church, is partially a landmark. Its 
rear, distinguished by a Moorish dome, massive walls, 
and octagonal shape, tells over and over the story 
of its inception under the invocation of the Virgin 
and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Its first foundation 
stone was laid May 13th, 1734. Don Prudencio de Oro- 
bio Basterra was then Governor and Captain-General 
of the Spanish Province of Texas, and Don Juan Rezio 
de Leon, Curate, Vicar and Ecclesiastical Justice of 



Historical, Traditional, Lkgendaey. 129 




'old Landmark, erroneously called the Ruins of Davy 
Crockett's Home. 

the town of San Fernando (without the presidio of 
San Antonio). It was mostly for the guardian- 
soldietf of her border-colonies that Spain had de- 
s^^ned this church, which was built by subscnption, 
rlany names appearing in the list of original sub- 
Srrbeing ^a^miliar ones in the «- An^o-^^ 
today It stood at much the same location as the 
in structure, between Main and f ^-y mz^ 
The old main dome was destroyed in April, 1872 but 
!s the new walls went up outside the old, the church 
wa tdisuse for but a short time. F. Buquor, who 



130 San Antonio de Bexar / 

furnished the architect's plans and specifications, was 
mayor of the city at the time of the reopening of the 
church, October 6th, 1873. On December 24th, the fol- 
lowing year. Right Reverend Anthony Dominic Pe- 
licer was installed at San Fernando Cathedral as the 
first Bishop of San Antonio. He was buried in this 
edifice April 17th, 1880, at which time he was succeed- 
ed by Right Reverend J. C. Neraz. 

In the records of this old church may be found the 
marriage signatures of James Bowie and Ursula Ver- 
amendi. 

The historic Veramendi House, for years one of the 
sights of San Antonio, has now disappeared through 
the ruthless hand of Progress. It is generally sup- 
posed to have been the governor's palace, but was 
only a private — never an official — residence. It was 
first owned by Don Fernando de Veramendi, and next 
in descent by Juan Martin de Veramendi, vice-gov- 
ernor of Texas, whose daughter Urusla married James 
Bowie, April 25th, 1831. The young couple went to 
Monclova to spend the honeymoon; they remained 
there until 1833 when Ursula and their child died* of 
smallpox. He returned to Texas bowed with grief, 
ready to undertake any enterprise — perchance a 
happy Alamo martyrdom. It was just without the 
portals of the palace that brave Milam fell, leading 
the attack against the Mexican forces in San Antonio, 
December 7th, 1835. His remains w^ere buried in the 



•Rodriguez' "Memoirs". 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 131 

court-yard of the building, and fourteen years later, 
tlie Masonic Order of which he was a member, ex- 
hiimed his remains and under escort of a detail of the 
United States army, placed them in the center of 
the old City Cemetery. When the cemetery was dis- 
continued Milam's remains were undisturbed, and 
the square has since been known as Milam Park. His 
grave is marked by a handsome granite monument 
erected by the Daughters of the Republic, July 11th, 
1878. 

Of the few landmarks remaining intact is the old 
Market House on Market Street which has witnessed 
the evolution of the present modern metropolis from 
an isolated town on the western prairie. Designed 
after the Greek-temple model, it was built in 1858, 
during the mayoralty of A. A. Lockwood, by John 
Fries and David Eussi, then leading contractors. This 
old market house, however, had other uses than to 
furnish stalls for the purveyors of meats and vege- 
tables, for it contained eating counters and restau- 
rants where meat could be selected, cut and cooked 
for the customer. Here gathered travelers, freight- 
ers, and soldiers, in the days of Colonel Lee, as well 
as men who were concerned in the building of the 
State, to discuss over their meals the burning topics 
of the day, — murders, Indian raids, deeds of des- 
peradoes. This old building was the house of the 
noted ''Beef Steak Club," composed of the most prom- 
inent men in the town, who with epicurean taste fore- 



132 San Antonio de Bexar 

gathered there to eat the steaks prepared by old 
Ernest, whose talent in this particular branch of 
culinarj^ art was not only of state, but of national 
reputation. This club was first located in a small 
building on Commerce Street, but its increased mem- 
bership demanding larger quarters, it was removed 
to the old Market House. Ernest was conscripted dur- 
ing the war, and after serving faithfully, upon the 
restoration of peace he returned to San Antonio and 
the patrons of his skill whom he served faithfully 
through his remaining years. So much of the early 
life of San Antonio is associated with this old Market 
House that although it has long since ceased to be 
used for any form of municipal purpose, it is regarded 
by San Antonians with the same affectionate deference 
as is accorded the few remaining historic buildings 
and sites of the Alamo City. 

Among the industrial landmarks of San Antonio 
may be mentioned the old Lewis Mill. In 1849 it was 
built by the pioneer Nat Lewis, who had come to 
Texas in 1842. For nearly twenty years it supplied 
ground corn to all the country around. In 1890 after 
having been stopped for several years, it was rebuilt 
and continued to *'go round." Other pioneer mills 
were those of Carl Hilmer Guenther who came to 
Texas from Germany in the late '40 's. He built three 
mills on the San Antonio River, the lower one sup- 
plying the first wheat ground in the city. 

Enclosed by a high stone wall with its wide gate 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 133 







One of the many jacals in a "tin can settlement" of 
Mexico" near the San Fernando Cemetery, 



'Little 



and stone arch bearing the inscription ^'Cemetario 
de San Ferdinand ' ' is another of San Antonio 's land- 
marks. It lies far from the din and noise of the city, 
but well within the environs of ''Little Mexico" with 
its humble ''jacals" and tiny stores carrying char- 
acteristic Mexican wares. 

Old as its general appearance would indicate — as 
if of another age and clime — this was not the first 
"Campo Santo" of San Antonio. At one time the 
Catholic dead were laid away in a plot of ground 
where the Santa Rosa Hospital now stands. Nearby 
was the Protestant graveyard, but time pushed aside 



134 San Antonio de Bexar 

all the little mounds of earth and in their place stood 
macadamized Houston Street, Milam Park and later, 
the Market House. One of the most noticeable things 
in this city of the dead is the crowded appearance 
of the graves, many of them seeming to almost over- 
lap, so necessary has it been to conserve space. These 
well-kept graves are mostly marked with white or 
black wooden crosses, the crude handiwork of a loved 
one left behind. On many of them are placed tin 
or wooden boxes with glass fronts draped like win- 
dows, in which some souvenir of the dear departed 
has been placed. Again one sees large paper flowers 
tied on a bush near a grave, or little figures dangling, 
which would seem grotesque if not so pathetic. 

The atmosphere of this cemetery appeals strongly 
to the sympathies, since largely used by the poorer 
class of Mexicans, their votive offerings placed on va- 
rious graves lend such a note of humbleness, or res- 
ignation to the will of God and of love for their chil- 
dren — leading traits of these people. One's heart- 
strings are touched by a baby's cradle placed above a 
tiny mound, or a broken toy, while again ''Babita 
mia ' ' — ' ' my baby ' ' — on a cross, is all that is told by a 
mourning mother-heart. Another grave has a cross 
made by electric light globes set into the ground, 
while still another holds a tiny cross enclosed by some 
miraculous means in a bottle. 

Many of the oldest and best known Mexicans, also 
members of the early German, Irish and French fam- 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 135 

ilies, and others, descendants of the old Spanish gran- 
dees, are sleeping here. Their well-kept graves and 
simple or gorgeous monuments, bear such names as 
Juan Cortez, Santa Ana Aya, Marian Oca de Cantes, 
Venesladita Chagoya, Castanola, Mocegemba, Giraud, 
Jacques, Bryan Callaghan (father of the many years' 
mayor of San Antonio), Dunbar, and John Twohig. 
Near a large statue of Christ in the center of the 
cemetery lies Bishop Neraz. To the left of the statue 
is a plot set aside for the nuns. 

On All Souls and All Saints Days this little ceme- 
tery is aglow in gorgeousness. For months the poor- 
er Mexicans have denied themselves, perhaps the very 
necessities of life, in order to bring little tributes of 
love and have the priest visit a grave, bless it with a 
Latin prayer and sprinkle holy Avater upon it.* 

San Pedro Park is a remnant of the former magni- 
ficent domain of the city, it being a part of the orig- 
inal Spanish grant of 1729, and at that time set aside 
as an ^^exido." It was about its lovely springs and 
under its spreading live-oaks and stately pecans that 
Indians struck their tepees when all the vast out-ly- 
ing domain was an aboriginal possession. Here, too, 
the Canary Islanders camped on that March day in 
1730, when they first reached the presidio of San 
Antonio de Bexar. At this park the water flows from 



*The primary source for these "Landmarks" — outside of per- 
.sonal observation and inquiry — is a little booklet, "San Antonio, 
Historical and Modern," gotten out several years ago by the 
■"Passing Show" press. 



136 San Antonio de Bexar 

an orifice at the eastern end of a little lake, which is 
in reality a cave whose dimensions have never been 
defined. A few years ago workmen blasting stones in 
the northeastern part of the same park, found in a 
cave the skeletons of Indians of huge stature, as well 
as arrow-heads, stone spear-heads and other relics of 
an aboriginal race. Through the center of this cave 
flows a bold stream, which is most probably a com- 
panion to those forming the San Pedro River. A 
huge stone placed at the mouth of the cave prevents 
further explorations. 

Near the ''Head of the Eiver" is what is known 
as ''Rattlesnake Cave" because of the many deadly 
vipers infesting it, which when the Apaches and Co- 
manches were driven out of the country, superseded 
them in possession. 

Another, known as the "Robbers' Cave" is in the 
Leon Springs neighborhood. Inside near its mouth 
was once hidden among other things, an organ stolen 
from a church nearby. The gang of outlaws rendez- 
vousing at this place at the time was headed by a 
man named Jim Pitts. It was this leader who shot 
and instantly killed the United States marshal, Hal 
Gosling, who had him in charge on the train after 
his conviction at Austin. Pitts, with a companion 
named Yeager, jumped from the train, going at the 
rate of forty miles per hour, near the Guadalupe 
River bridge at the edge of New Braunfels. The for- 
mer was shot by the conductor and mortally wounded. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 137 

dying in the brush near the bridge. Yeager mashed 
Pitts' dead hand in order to loosen a handcuff, and 
escaped. When found the next day by the sheriff's 
posse, the handcuff was still dangling from his wrist. 
This happened in February, 1885. 

Not far from the "Robbers' Cave" near Leon 
Springs is another near Helotes. In it was acci- 
dentally discovered the skeleton of a man which was 
identified as that of Frank Harris, who had disap- 
peared several years previously and shortly before his 
testimony was to be given as an important witness m 
a criminal case. On February 10th, 1887, Frank Scott 
was sent to the penitentiary for life for the murder 
of Harris, thus closing the final chapter in the Rob- 
bers' Cave tragedy. 

Xios Pastores— A Modern Miracle Play and Spirit- 
ual Landmark of Mexican So^^REIGNTY. 

A Legend of the Poinsettia— Theme and Caste— The 

Lonely Dove— A Legend— Rebirth. 

Years ago the territory adjacent to the Republic 
of Mexico threw off its blanket and mantilla, rubbed 
Its sleepy eyes, and assumed the brisk and bustling 
air of *'Los Americanos," but along the borderland 
of this country, to the initiated, all is '^asleep in the 
lap of legends old." Without crossing the sea, you 
can find in Texas today, a miracle play equal to the 
lamous Passion Play of Oberammergau, which to see 



138 San Antonio de Bexar 

rightly, one must put his ear close to the ground and 
feel the burning faith of the meek and lowly. 

Mark the earth's changes. The poinsettia, or 
''Buena Noche," knows the cycle and throws off its 
cross of verdure to cling bare-limbed to its crimson 
crown, — type of the new life and gospel. Type, too, 
of life, the heart vibrating with human fellowship, 
shedding the dross to be ready for the regeneration 
that lies within the Christmas spirit. Old San An- 
tonio de Bexar offers ''Los Pastores"* in Christmas- 
tide, as do other of the border towns containing so 
strong a Mexican element in population. Uncon- 
sciously they present a mediaeval drama plucked 
from the heart of Catholic Spain and grafted in Cor- 
tez 's time upon the Aztec branch. 

There are seventy or more Corpus Christi plays, 
and the Mexican "Pastores" joins the numerous sym- 
bolic and religious presentations of the human sym- 
pathy all feel for the story of Bethlehem. In the 
southwest the story lives in its original simplicity, 
fervor and zeal in the hearts of a simple people. It is 
bequeathed from sire to son, rehearsed line upon line, 
five thousand or more, rhymed and unrhymed, with 
numerous songs to harmonize with minor chords, be- 
sides players to place according to space, circumstance 
and tradition. The players are under a moral obli- 



*"A manuscript copy of 'Los Pastores' is indeed rare, but the 
Massachusetts Historical Society has recently published an ex- 
cellent translation of one version." — Sarah S. King 

From Miss King's little booklet "Los Pastores, an Interpreta- 
tion," published in 1908, this summary is derived. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 139 

gation to go wherever an altar is built to the Christ 
Child, so the ceremony is seldom repeated in the same 
locality during the allotted time for its presentation — 
from Christmas Eve to January the twelfth. 

If the play is not given at the ' ' Chapel of Miracles, ' ' 
a mile northwest of the Alamo, it is because some ad- 
jacent jacalita, rich in piety and hospitality, has bade 
it welcome. The doors of this little chapel swing in- 
ward the year round, leading the way into the very 
lieart of faith where hope's wings may be renewed. 
The lame, the halt, the blind bring bodily ills; the 
weak and wicked the soul's wounds, to leave all at 
the feet of the crucified Savior that hangs above 
the altar. The ''tilma" worn by the figure is cov- 
ered with pious gifts of faith — a gold cross, a silver 
coin, a motto, a picture, a ribbon — grateful tokens of 
peace found — signs of prayers answered. 

The plot of the ''Pastores" is that of the nativity, 
but now and then several preliminary scenes are given, 
as the Espousal, the Visitation, the Journey to Beth- 
lehem and the Wise Men, Mary and Joseph, the Christ 
Child, Shepherds Twelve, Devils Three — or Seven, — 
Gabriel and Michael, the Hermit, Cucharon the Jester, 
^nd Gila the Cook, complete the usual castes. In old- 
en times the audience — men, women and children — 
had whistles and announced to the birds the coming 
of the Child Jesus. Each feathered friend awakened 
and joined the chorus of praise, all except the dove. 
This lazy bird slept through the Savior's blessing. 



140 San Antonio de Bexar 

Henceforth, its sad regret, ''coo-coo," goes down the 
ages as a warning. When in the play the shepherds 
kneel before the unveiled Blessed Child with their 
prayers, they offer gifts, a basket of flowers, a game 
cock, a candle, a rustic spoon, wild honey, tamales, and 
a beloved lute. A Mexican blanket is no mean gift 
and the weaver sings as he folds it softly around the 
cradle : 

''Ah, the beauty of the Child, 
With a mouth of coral. 
It is my wish to cover thee. 
With the weaving of mj^ love. ' ' 
The hermit gives a rosary, and in New Mexico, it, 
is said one of the shepherds offers a pack of carda 
as the four suits symbolize the four events of His pas- 
sion. After each shepherd has worshipped the "Babe 
of Bethlehem, ' ' the children are blessed by the hermit, 
while the audience follow and kiss the waxen figure. 
Keverence and silence prevail. All rejoice in hope 
and solace born again. The glad tidings radiate the 
world anew as the shepherds turn homeward singing 
a farewell to baby and mother, which includes the 
blessing asked for abounding love and of life to praise 
His word "until death rolls 'round." 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 141 
CHAPTER XVII. 



THE LANDMARKS OF SAN ANTONIO'S EN- 
VIRONS—THE 3IISSI0NS. 

Identifications of the Original Sites of Early Texas 
Missions — East Texas Missions Re-established on 
the San Antonio — Angelina, Indian Maid and Con- 
vert. 



By far the most interesting of San Antonio's land- 
marks are the missions of her environs — symbols of 
Spanish sovereignty, of missionary zeal and self-sac- 
rifice, of many attempts to bring an alien and abor- 
iginal race to the cross of Christ. These are located 
on alternate sides of the San Antonio River — the first, 
Concepcion, about four miles from the present San 
Antonio, and the fourth, Espada, twelve miles — be- 
tween them, San Jose and San Juan. 

In 1720, the Zacatecan friars founded the mission 
San Juan de Capistrano on the San Antonio River, 
about eight miles from the first settlement of the villa, 
but they made no effort toward the erection of suitable 
buildings until the time, eleven years later, when there 
would be brought for its company, the three missions 
from the land of the Tejas. 

When in 1690, Alonzo de Leon made his second ex- 
tended expedition into Texas, he established the first 
mission in the country, as we have seen, and named it 



142 San Antonio de Bexar 

San Francisco de Los Tejas. Its exact location was: 
at the Hainai village in the northern part of what is 
now Houston County, from three to six miles west of 
the Neches River above the crossing of the Camino 
Real — King's Highway — near a stream which early^ 
took the name of San Pedro,* and at a site that became- 
known as San Pedro de los Nabedachos. It is this 
name, San Pedro, in part, that has caused some per- 
sons to think, groundlessly, that the first mission of 
San Francisco was founded at San Antonio on the 
San Pedro in that vicinity. 

The second site of the San Francisco mission, the 
one selected by the Indians themselves for its re-estab- 
lishment, was at the Neche village about eight or nine 
leagues southwest of the Hainai village, near the east 
bank of the Neches River and near the crossing of the 
Camino Real, which, as now identified, was at Wil- 
liams' Ferry, below the mouth of San Pedro Creek. 
The identification t of this crossing has been made- 



*San Pedro Creek, which joins the Neches River in the north- 
ern part of Houston County, still bears the historical name. — 
Bolton. 

tThe identification of these mission sites has been made from 
Diaries of DeLeon and Espinosa, found in the Archivos General 
y Publico, Mexico, and other documentary sources, from early' 
surveys showing the Camino Real, whose windings in Eastern 
Texas were determined mainly by the location of the principaf 
Indian villages where the Spaniards had settlements, from cer- 
tain unmistakable topographical features, such as the principal 
rivers and the Neche Indian mounds, and geographical names 
that have come down to us from the period of Spanish occupa- 
tion. — Bolton, "Native Tribes About East Texas Missions". 

[This work of Dr. Bolton's, found in Vol. XI, No. 4. of the 
Texas State Historical Association's Quarterly, embodies some 
of the results of the history of the Texas tribes, which he made- 
for the Bureau of American Ethnology.] 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 143 

certain by archaelogical remains — the Indian mounds 
west of the Neches. A mound with two less conspic- 
uous companions, which, according to a record of 1779, 
had been raised by the natives of the locality in order 
''tn build on its top a temple, w^hich overlooked the 
pueblo near by," still stands in Cherokee County 
about one and one-half miles from the river, and five 
miks southwest of Alto, in a plain known to some as 
Mound Prairie. The mounds are on the land now 
the fii'operty of the Morrell Orchard Company, once 
a part of the original grant made to the romantic 
Pedro Ellis Bean. 

This mission's official name, still known as San 
Francisco de los Tejas because of its location at the 
Neche village, came to be called San Francisco de los 
Neches ; removed to the San Antonio Eiver it became 
known as San Francisco de la Espada. 

The holj' fathers on their visits among the Indian 
villages found at the Hainai village an Indian girl* 
who became attched to them and asked to be taught 
their language. Upon invitation she took up her 
abode in this mission, and there received instruction. 
She soon became enamored of her work and environ- 
ment, while the priests and soldiers, charmed by her 
studious habits and cheerful nature, applied to her 
the name of Angelina, ''Little Angel." Her native 
village they called ''Angelina's Village," and the 



♦a portion of this story is fanciful or traditional, but Saint- 
Denis and Espinosa have given some facts — around these, the 
traditions have been woven by chroniclers. 



144 San Antonio de Bexar 

stream that flowed by ' ' Angelina 's River. ' ' When in 
1693, the Spaniards decided to abandon this Texas 
mission, Angelina, as Euth with Naomi, forsook her 
people and her home and cast her lot with the Span- 
iards in their far off country, accompanying them to 
the Mission San Juan Bautista on the Rio Grande. 
Here she remained for over ten years pursuing her 
studies, and became an object of much attention from 
explorers and travelers in their journeys back and 
forth between Louisiana and Mexico, the pride of the 
church and state dignitaries, and famous throughout 
the two countries. She grew proficient in Spanish, 
joined the church and was baptised. When Saint- 
Denis was on his way from Louisiana to the Cit}^ of 
Mexico in 1715, he stopped at the Hainai village and 
met Angelina, and, as both were familiar with the 
Spanish language, she became his interpreter. 

When Espinosa returned to Texas in 1716, he too 
found Angelina at the Hainai* village and used her 
as his interpreter. At this place a mile or two east 
of the point where the highway crossed the Angelina, 
near two springs in the middle of the village, he 
founded the Mission Purissima Concepcion. This site 
could not have been far from the Linwood crossing in 
Cherokee County. The mission founded at Angelina 's 



*The Hainai tribe whose lands lay on both sides of the Ange- 
lina, was the head of the Hasinai Confederacy, and for that rea- 
son was sometimes called Hasinai. It is to this tribe also that 
the name Texas is usually applied when restricted to a single 
one. — Bolton. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 145 

village was doubtless established at her request as she 
actively aided in its establishment. 

Above the Hainai, on the waters of the Angelina, 
was the Nasoni tribe of Indians. In 1716 Espinosa 
went over the route between these two tribes to es- 
tablish the San Jose mission, and recorded in his 
diary that on the way there were many Indian houses 
(rancJios), and that the mission was situated ''on an 
arroya with plentiful water running north." One of 
the southern tributaries of Shawnee Creek in the 
northern part of Nacogdoches County has been identi- 
fied as the ''arroya." The mission of San Jose re- 
mained near the Nasoni until 1729, when, like those 
of San Francisco, at the Neche village, and Concep- 
cion at the Hainai village, it was removed to the San 
Antonio River. 

NUESTRA SENORA DE LA PURISSIMA CON- 
CEPCION— FIRST MISSION. 

Texas' Best Preserved Mission — The Concepcion 
Acequia — Artistic Remains — A Symbol of the Or- 
der of Saint Francis. 



The Mission Concepcion is the best preserved mis- 
sion in Texas. Built in the form of a cross, twin 
towers forming two wings at the foot of the cross 
and crowned with a Moorish dome, its aspect at once 
arouses in the curious traveler a sense of the incon- 
gruous as well as a delight in the picturesque. Its 



146 San Antonio de Bexar 

sombre gray walls seem to blend into the surround- 
ings of which it has been so long a part and from 
whose products it sought heavy tribute in its making. 

Only a vivid imagination can clothe the adjoining 
fields with the rich purple and green vineyards which 
once supplies the padres with a vintage so rare, that 
shipped to Spain, ''Mission" wine was esteemed as 
possessing the richest flavor. To the Pajalache, or 
Concepcion ditch, the oldest of the acequias of San 
Antonio, was due the rich verdure of the fields and the 
glory of their fruition. For 140 years it served its 
purpose and in 1869 was abandoned. Tradition has 
it that this aceqiiia was made so deep and so wide 
that the fathers and Indians kept boats upon it and 
used it as a means of transportation between the pre- 
sidio and missions. In places its course can yet be 
traced. 

The front of the old chapel of Concepcion Mission, 
as w^ell as the baptistry walls, show traces of frescoes 
in brilliant colorings dulled by age, those of the for- 
mer in red and blue quatrefoil crosses, and with yel- 
low and orange diamond-shaped figures simulating 
dressed stones. In the baptistry a fresco of the crusi- 
fixion, just above the font, is plainly visible. A crude 
figure with outstretched arms appears to support the 
rim. The echo under the dome has the most wonder- 
ful reverberation in the world. In the old refectory 
are found shelves set into the south wall which consist 
of slabs of solid stone. Its walls have crudely colored 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 147 

parallel lines wainscot-high, the same method of deco- 
ration outlining a frieze below the broadly arched 
ceiling. While all the rest of the frescoes in this room 
are almost entirelj^ obliterated by the hand of time, 
there still remains in the center of the ceiling, its rays 
but indistinct indications of archaic artistic strivings, 
the ''AH Seeing Eye," intact and absolute. 

The front entrance of the chapel bears above the 
center of its doorway, a shield with arms and devices 
upon which is carved in Spanish the legend: ''With 
these arms be mindful to the Mission's Patroness and 
Princess, and defend the state of her purity." Over 
this winds, circling in and out, the flagelUim or knot- 
ted scourge of the Order of St. Francis. 

SAN JOSE DE AGUAYO— SECOND MISSION. 

The World's Most Beautiful Mission— A Sculptor 
and a Legend. 



San Jose is the world 's most beautiful mission. Its 
unusual style of architecture is not confined to the 
church alone ; directly facing this building stands the 
remains of its granary where picturesque flying but- 
tresses and arched roof are still plainly in evidence. 
Just back of the tower of the mission is to be seen 
where once was placed a winding stair — one end of 
its solid wooden steps embedded into the wall and the 
other mounted end above end, forming a spiral — thus 



148 San Antonio de Bexar 

securing perfect balance. Small wonder that this 
stairway is famous. As on other buildings of this 
design, canales or water spouts, for draining the flat 
roofs, project beyond the walls. No nails were used 
in the construction of any of these missions wherein 
every detail was hand-wrought. At San Jose the 
pieces of which the wonderfully carved doors are 
made, are morticed together, their hinges made of 
straight pieces of iron with bent ends. 

The carvings of this mission are marvelous. The 
facade is especially rich in design, statues of Our 
Lady of Guadalupe, San Jose, San Benedictine, San 
Augustine, San Dominic, and San Francisco occupy- 
ing recesses with conch-like canopies of wonderful de- 
signs. Many sacred hearts, from one of which grows 
a lily, and from another extends a ventricle, are 
strongly in evidence, as are the forms of cherubs, only 
a few in good preservation — all these blended with 
conventional patterns in curves and scrolls ; the acan- 
thus leaf, and the pomegranate design, emblem of 
plenty, are often repeated here as elsewhere in both ex- 
terior and interior decorations. In the chapel are the 
remains of some paintings by old masters, — Tlie An- 
nunciation to EUzahetli, Tlie Flight Into Egypt, and 
one of the Christ Child, worthy of a Murillo. In spite 
of their extreme mutilation by time, these canvases, 
all but destroyed, and now placed between glass to be 
held together, still portray as in the beginning, their 
sacred themes. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 149 



^"^"^ -"-^J 







Granary in Court of Mission San Jose, showing flying 
buttresses. 

The south window of the baptistry is considered by 
connoisseurs to be the finest gem of architectural orna- 
mentation existing in America today. The carvings 
were the work of Huicar the sculptor, of whom the fol- 
lowing legend has been written : ' ' How wonderful to 
find this bit of old world architecture on the lonely 
prairie! The artist who designed it and carved it 
into this beautiful proportion and sjanmetry was a 
Spaniard. He crossed the seas to make a fortune for 
the girl he loved, who was to wait for him, keeping 
faith until he should return. Years went by, and the 



150 San Antonio de Bexar 

girl grew sick at heart with hope deferred. Letters 
were few, time was making lines on her brow; other 
lovers were suing for her hand ; her father and mother 
had died, — one can guess what followed. 

"He, in the meantime, worked on, for hope nestled 
in his heart. The day came when everything was 
ready for his return to claim his bride. He had 
achieved fame and fortune. Just as he was starting 
for the little Spanish village across the waters, he 
received news of his sweetheart's disloyalty. He for- 
feited his passage money and joined a body of priests 
who were on their way to the wilds of Texas. Later 
he assumed their vows, donned their habit, and put 
love and the world behind him. When this mission 
was planned he asked permission to help build it, 
and it was then that his companions discovered that 
he was a skilled artisan, a genius in fact, who might 
have had the world at his feet had he continued to 
work in it and for it. 

''This window, said by experts to be as perfect in 
form and workmanship as anything found in the ca- 
thedrals of the old world, is the memorial he left of 
himself. The winter after it was finished he caught 
a severe cold and died of diseased lungs; but the 
Brothers knew that it was of a broken heart. He had 
wrought into this window the pathos and passion of 
his lonely life, and there was no vitality left to carry 
him further on the road."* 



*Nora Franklin McCormick, in "San Antonio, Historical and 
Modern". 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 151 

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO— THIRD MISSION. 

A "Restored" Chapel — An Aceqiiia, Ancient and 
Modern in Utility. 



The Mission San Juan Capistrano was named for 
Santo Giovanni de Capistrano, a Franciscan friar, 
born in 1836 in the little town of Capistrano, in the 
Abruzzi in Italy, formerly known as the two Sicilies. 
This mission is situated about six miles from San 
Antonio, near where, was later built the bridge over 
San Juan ford. Unlike the missions of Concepcion 
and San Jose, this mission formed a part of, and is 
built into, the boundary or ramjjart wall 

The chapel is very plain and simple in construc- 
tion, — just four walls, the towers being merely an ele- 
vation of the east wall and with open arches in it for 
bells. The inside of the walls, now almost obliterated 
by the ravages of the weather, afford a fine study in 
rude frescoing, being a curious mixture of New World 
and Old World ideas. ' ' These frescoes, ' ' according to 
Father Bouchu, ' ' are of later date probably, than the 
completion of the chapel, and were doubtless permit- 
ted to satisfy the Indian nature's love of color." 

Along with the art exhibited in these crude figures, 
is found an elaborately painted Roman arch in red 
and orange over a doorway, the detail of which is of 
decidedly Moorish cast. A cross which for years stood 
at the highest point of the elevated front, finally fell 



152 



San Antonio de Bexar 







.^^"y-^^^^- 

'-_'~»^^^> * 



rv^ ^ V ^ ' 



Rear view of Mission San Juan de Capistrano, taken from 

near the river — shows cross of stone that fell intact to 

the ground and was later destroyed. 

intact and later became destroyed before the chapel's 
restoration. With this recent restoration there disap- 
peared an old iron window wonderfully hand- 
wrought. Much of the walls of the old court still 
remain, while its well, although dry, has a wxll-pre- 
served curb. In the rich fields beyond the chapel and 
the western wall, stretching down to the river, one can 
imagine the hooded friar standing, supervising the 
labor of the neophytes. Near the ruins of this mis- 
sion is an old aqueduct made by the Franciscan fath- 
ers over one hundred and fifty years ago. A series 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 153 

of low, massive arches, extremely picturesque, carry 
the waters over Piedra Creek to irrigate the land of 
the fourth mission and even to this day, that of 
ranches beyond. It is said that in the vicinity of San 
Juan Mission more traces of the Indians, in faces and 
characteristics, are to be found than anywhere else in 
Texas. 

SAN FRANCISCO DE LA ESPADA— FOURTH 
MISSION. 

Traditions of ^'St. Francis of the Sword"— A Modern 
Padre Francisco — First Camping Ground of the 
Army of Independence. 



When, in 1731, the three East Texas missions were 
re-established on the San Antonio River that of San 
Francisco de la Espada was placed on the right bank 
of the river about twelve miles below the present San 
Antonio, and the erection of stone buildings com- 
menced. Tradition has it that in building the walls 
the mortar was mixed with asses' milk which the 
priests consecrated to the service. It was dedicated 
to St. Francis of Assissi, the founder of the great 
order of Franciscans, and tradition says that the old 
tower was built in the form of the hilt of a sword, 
the imagination of the founders supplying length to 
the blade, thus completing the similarity to the whole 
weapon, and the mission named San Francisco de la 
Espada — St. Francis of the Sword. 



154 San Antonio de Bexar 

The meaning of the Spanish word ''Espada" as 
connected with the name of the meek Poverello of As- 
sissi seems almost paradoxical. The following inci- 
dents in the life of the penitent of the Umbrian hills 
may throw some light on the subject: 

First, Thomas of Celano, first biographer of Francis 
of Assissi, refers to Francis' love for ''fine clothes 
and showy display," and speaks of his (Francis) be- 
ing ' ' the foremost in every feat of arms. " It is well 
known, that in his youth the son of Bernardone 
oftimes took part in petty skirmishes so frequent in 
those days, between rival cities. May not the word 
' Espada" m the present case find its connection with 
the name of Francis to the young man's love for 
''feats of arms?" 

Again, constantly in search of victories, Francis re- 
solved to embrace the military career and to take 
arms against the Emperor in the Neapolitan states. 
The night before he set forth, tradition will have us 
believe, the young soldier had a dream in which he 
saw "a vast hall hung with sivords and armours all 
marked with a cross. 'These,' said a voice, 'are for 
you and your soldiers'." 

The Umbrian was summoned by heaven to be a sol- 
dier in the militia of Christ and his sword was to be 
the gospel of the lowly Nazarene. 

The epithet "Espada" attached to the name of St. 
Francis and churches built in his honor, may find its 
origin in connection with this incident: In the year 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 155 

1224, Francis left his poor monastery and directed 
his steps toward Mount Alverno, ^'that rugged rock 
'twixt Tiber and Arno ' ' called by Dante, ' ' La Verna. 
Forty days did Francis remain there, praying and 
fasting, and meditating on the sufferings of Christ. 
There he beheld the marvelous vision of the Seraph 
under the form of a roughly outlined ''sword." The 
visible marks of the five wounds of the Crucified, were 
as a sequel of this vision, on Francis' emaciated frame. 

Here again, the word Espada as connected with the 
name of the Poverello may find an explanation. The 
medieval mind has handed down to us, through the 
richness and vividness of its figures, many interesting 
problems of symbolizing that at times are very diffi- 
cult for the modern mind to grasp. These suggestive 
solutions of the name of the Mission ''San Francisco 
de la Espada" are, however, all mere matters of tra- 
dition.* 

Parts of the ramparts or enclosing walls of this 
mission are fairly well preserved and show the flying 
buttresses of a vanishing type of architecture, while 
others are in total ruin. In the southeast corner of 
the irregularly shaped square, there projects a small, 
low tower — a haluarte or bulwark — of quite a feudal 
character. It is in a state of fine preservation, and 
with its three crudely made cannon holes of dressed 
stone, and the eye-like orifices made by seven musket 
holes about eight feet from the ground, it produces 

* Rev. Father J. R. Allard, Paris, Texas. 



156 San Antonio de Bexar 

quite a menacing appearance. The rooms to the north 
were fitted up for a school-house by good Father Bou- 
chu, ' ' Padre Francisco, ' ' who was a priest at this mis- 
sion for a number of years. Under his rule the mission 
chapel was almost entirely remodeled, while with his. 
own hands he built a comfortable priest's house upon 
the ruins of the old convent and arcade. Joining with 
his vocation a knowledge of practical handicraft — 
being a fine student and a versatile, for he was law- 
yer, bricklayer, stone-mason, photographer, historian, 
and printer, as well as priest — he entered into the 
spirit of the founders with more than ordinary keen- 
ness. 

The three original bells remain in the belfries unto 
this day, and still call to service — for service is fre- 
quently held in the restored chapel. This chapel i» 
the smallest erected in connection with any of the San 
Antonio missions. Among its relics is a tiny commu- 
nion set of wrought silver, the vessels which held the 
small potions for sick and dying, being engraved A 
and V. It is said that some of the mission bells were 
cast in San Antonio. People of this day can have na 
conception of what the pioneer missionaries from 
across the sea came to make and to accomplish. 

It was when republican Mexicans and Texans pro- 
tested against Santa Ana's arbitrary rule and his de- 
sire to wear a crown, that a Lexington was ushered 
in on Texas soil at Gonzales. The conquering pa- 
triots then marched to the mission L' Espada, their 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 157 




Mission San Francisco de la Espada before restoration. 



desire being to ''rush on to San Antonio, capture the 
garrison before it could get reinforcements, and then 
on to Mexico to dictate terms of peace in the capital 
of the Montezumas. ' '* 

In a beautiful grove of trees, occupying the square, 
which is still plainly outlined by the crumbling walls, 
the Texas army of Independence made its first camp- 
ing ground at the mission Francisco de la Espada. 
Here also, Stephen F. Austin joined his troops as 
commander-in-chief, on his return from Mexico. From 



♦Smithwick. "Evolution of a State.' 



158 San Antonio de Bexar 

this point Fannin and Bowie* with 90 men were dis- 
patched to reconnoitre and select an eligible situa- 
tion near Bexar for an encampment and from which 
to direct operations against the garrison. They finally 
selected a piece of ground in a bend of the river some 
500 yards from the Mission Concepcion, and about 
one and a half miles from Bexar. Here the little army 
in advance halted for the night, and here fought on 
October 28th, 1835, the first regular battle of the Texas 
Revolution, defeating 400 Mexicans; a battle so ably 
fought and so brilliantly w^on as to well deserve the 
commendation bestowed hy the Consultation, when on 
November 3rd, on motion of Sam Houston, that body 
thanked the officers and men for their heroic gallantry 

and valor. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE SAN ANTONIO MISSION ERA— DEVELOP- 
MENT, DECLINE, AND CLOSE. 

Expeditions Against the Apaches — Father Santa Ana 
— ^Valuable Historical and Ethnological Treasures 
— The Neophytes in the Missions — Tribulations and 
Growth — Secularization and Ruins. 



The growth of the western district of Texas after 
the founding of San Antonio, was seriously retarded 



*Noah Smithwick was a member of this army. He accredits 
Coleman as accompanying Bowie and Fannin on this expedition 
and as being one of the conquering officers. 



Historical, Tradition^u., Legendary. 159 

by the depredations of Indians, who menaced the mis- 
sions and settlers by frequent raids upon their stock, 
often resulting in loss of human life. The eastern 
Apaches, tribes living in general west of San An- 
tonio and south of the upper Colorado River, were 
the chief offenders. No doubt the cupidity and law- 
lessness of the white man were much to blame for 
these hostilities, as for others in American history. 
To check these outrages, the missionaries used their 
utmost powers of persuasion and furnished mission- 
ary Indians to aid the soldiery. The troops at San 
Antonio usually stood on the defensive, but occas- 
sionally they made campaigns into the enemy's coun- 
try, and as a rule, with telling results. The first form- 
al campaign from San Antonio was made in 1723, 
under Captain Flores with thirty soldiers and thirty 
missionary Indians, who, going north and then west 
130 leagues, encountered a rancJieria of Apaches, kill- 
ing thirty-four Indians, capturing twenty women and 
children and recovering 120 stolen mules and horses. 
During the decade that followed, Apache outrages 
were interspersed with friendly visits and peace agree- 
ments, and there was little open warfare. Meanwhile 
the garrison was unfortunately reduced from fifty- 
three to forty-three soldiers — a measure bringing forth 
a storm of protests from the missionaries, which 
proved well-founded, for immediately after the com- 
ing of the Canary Islanders and the three new mis- 
sions in 1731, the Apaches renewed their depreda- 



160 



San Antonio de Bexar 




Door inside rear of Mission San Jose. 



tions. In the fall of that year a hard fought battle 
between the soldiers and Indians took place just out- 
side of San Antonio. 

This was followed by two formal campaigns against 
these Indians, many of whose outrages were of the 
most diabolical sort. But the missionaries saw in these 
campaigns other than a mere desire to afford protec- 
tion for the settlements. In 1740, Father Santa Ana 
wrote, "If the campaigns which they make were con- 
ducted with more discipline and with a better and 
more disinterested purpose, it would not be so diffi- 
cult to secure peace with the Indians in their own 
country. ... Of what took place in the last 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 161 

campaign, I can only say that it is very important that 
others like it should not be made, for neither God 
nor the king gains anything, while the hatred of the 
Indians is increased, the peace of the province thus 
"becoming more disturbed." 

Within the decade and a half following 1731, life 
in the missions was broken by the arrival of pack 
trains from the interior, periodical buffalo hunts, 
cattle killings on the prairies, and disputes between 
the missionaries and their secular neighbors. One 
form of discord arose over the mission guards. The 
missionaries needed and always demanded a few sol- 
diers to protect them on their missionary journeys, to 
aid them in supervising the work of the neophytes, 
and to assist in the manual labor of the missions. The 
king therefore required the presidios to furnish a 
specified number of soldiers for that purpose. But 
this order was disregarded by Governor Franquis, who 
in 1737 took away all the mission guards, which re- 
sulted in the 137 neophytes of Mission Espada ab- 
sconding in a body in June of that year, followed by 
many of those of San Juan and Concepcion during 
the two months following. The wrangle which en- 
sued between Governor Franquis and the missionaries 
was a bitter one. All the evidence adduced would in- 
dicate that Franquis was a violent man. It was 
<jharged that soon after the arrival of Franquis at 
Bexar, he took the Indians from their missions and 
•compelled them to work without compensation, and 



162 San Antonio de Bexar 

that to escape this burden they deserted from the 
missions, while heathen Indians were deterred from 
entering therein. The missionaries protested to the 
viceroy, whereupon Franquis made a personal attack 
upon the complainants, banishing them, intercepting 
their letters, impeding their exercise of authority, and 
using insulting language. 

In May, 1737, the viceroy ordered Franquis, under 
a heavy penalty, to desist from removing neophytes 
from their missions, to leave them wholly in charge of 
the missions and to cease his abuses. But the matter 
did not end here. In a further investigation insti- 
tuted by Franquis, it was shown that the Indians at 
the missions were being overworked, underfed, and 
mercilessly flogged; that this was the cause of their 
desertions, and that during Sandoval 's term the great- 
est cruelties had been practiced in recovering run- 
aways. But this testimony, being partisan, can not 
be too seriously considered. 

A conflict taking place between the missionaries and 
the citizens of the adjacent villa of San Fernando de 
Bexar, occurred about 1740, when the Canary Island- 
ers desired to utilize the mission Indians on condition 
of paying them wages. It was not until 1745 that a 
covenant was made, — Father Santa Ana representing 
the missionaries and Indians, the very illustrious ca- 
hildo having assembled in the buildings what served 
for an ayuntamiento. In spite of the agreement that 
the dispute should forever cease because the complain- 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 163 

ants wished to have ' ' now and in future, peace, union 
and harmony, ' ' quarrels continued much to the detri- 
ment of the community, and since wrangling and con- 
flicting reports were the rule, it is not surprising that 
the government in Mexico was often greatly deterred 
from giving the needed assistance to the province. 

During these fifteen years a score or more of priests, 
not to mention lay brothers, labored at the San An- 
tonio missions alone, instructing with commendable 
zeal, the neophytes within. The central figure among 
them was Fray Benito Fernandez de Santa Ana who 
arrived in 1731, and most of the time thereafter was 
president of the four Queretaran* missions. After 
living three years at Mission San Antonio de Valero 
he moved his headquarters to Concepcion. Scarcely 
less conspicuous was Father Francisco Mariano de los 
Dolores y Viana, who arrived in 1733 and remained 
until 1763, succeeding Father Santa Ana as Presi- 
dent. His residence was at Mission San Antonio de 
Valero. None did more valuable service for history 
than diligent Father Martin Garcia, of Mission San 
Antonio, who wrote a long disquisition concerning the 
management of Indians, and copied in his own hand- 
writing many of the older records of the missions to 
preserve them from destruction. The painstaking re- 



*The Missions San Antonio de Valero (Alamo), Concepcion, 
San Jose' and San Francisco de la Espada, being administered 
by the college of Santa Cruz de Queretaro, were known as the 
Queretaran Missions. San Juan de Capistrano was known as a 
Zacatecan Mission, having been founded by friars of the College 
of Guadalupe de Zacatecas. — Bolton. 



164 San Antonio de Bexar 

ports and correspondence of the missionaries as a 
whole will always stand as a monument to their train- 
ing and intellect, and though as yet little known, will 
constitute a priceless treasure of history and eth- 
nology. 

According to the Laws of the Indies the missionaries 
were enjoined to instruct the Indians in their native 
tongue, and in the colleges professorships were estab- 
lished to teach them, but on account of the many dia- 
lects spoken by the Indians, and their native languages 
lacking terms in which to express the Christian 
doctrine, this was well-nigh impossible. Consequently, 
as a rule all mission Indians except those adult upon 
arrival, soon spoke Spanish. Along the Camino Real 
(King's Highway), between San Antonio and the Rio 
Grande, roamed numerous, weak, unsettled bands of 
Indians, many of whom spoke a common language 
known as the Coahuilecan. In 1760 Father Bar- 
tholome Garcia of the Mission San Francisco de Es- 
pada, published a Manual for religious instruction in 
this language which served for about twenty tribes. 

There were three Indian tribes originally at the Mis- 
sion Concepcion, but by 1745 members of at least fif- 
teen others had been influenced thither. The tribes 
taken to these three new missions during this period, 
were mainly from the coastwise country rather than 
from the interior. The facts suggest much patience 
and long, weary and dangerous journeys by the mis- 
sionaries, not only to attract new heathen, but to re- 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 165 

cover absconding neophytes. These fugitives some- 
times fought, they even committed suicide by drown- 
ing or jumping over cliffs, rather than return to the 
flogging which they feared they would receive as pun- 
ishment for their flight. 

In spite of all these tribulations, the missions in the 
vicinity of San Antonio made a good showing. In 
five years, ending in 1745, the four Queretaran mis- 
sions baptized nearly 700 neophytes, and there were 
living at these missions 885 Indians, of whom 135, 
mostly new-comers, were still unbaptized. 

By 1745 all the missions of San Antonio had good 
irrigating ditches and raised maize, beans, melons, 
calabashes, sweet potatoes, and other vegetables, often 
having a surplus to sell the garrison. On the ranches 
of the four missions combined, over 9000 head of 
horses, sheep, and goats were pastured. The buildings 
of the missions had not yet taken permanent form, al- 
though substantial beginnings had been made. Mis- 
sion San Jose was the first of the San Antonio mis- 
sions to be finished, and the day of its completion 
was made the occasion for locating and beginning Con- 
cepcion, San Juan and Espada missions — March 5th, 
1731. The seating capacity of the church of San Jose 
mission accommodated more than 2000 persons. This, 
however was not the final and magnificent structure 
which was begun in 1768, and completed ten years 
later. 



166 San Antonio de Bexar 

In Father Santa Ana's report, made in 1745, he 
wrote that in that j^ear a stone church at Concepcion 
was almost half completed and for the time being, 
an adobe building was used in its place. The Indian 
pueblo was composed of thatched huts, but enclosed 
hy a wall of stone and mortar, — a pueblo being closely 
connected with each church and monastery. There 
were three stone houses for soldiers and a stone gran- 
ary at Concepcion. The missionaries lived in a stone 
building of two stories, the living rooms and cells 
being above and the offices below. At San Juan both 
the church and the houses of the Indian village or 
pueblo, were of thatch. 

By 1762 the church at the Mission Concepcion was 
completed.* It was 32 varas long by 8 wide, built of 
stone and mortar, with vaulted ceiling, dome and bells 
and contained a sacristy and a chapel. The other mis- 
sions were wonderfully improved in buildings and 
equipment, each having its convents or monastery, in- 
cluding cells for friars, porter's lodge, refectory, kit- 
chen, offices, workshops and granary, usually all un- 
der one common roof ranged around a patio. An im- 
portant part of each mission was the workshop ; here 
the neophj-tes not only helped to supply their eco- 
nomic needs, but got an important part of their train- 
ing for civilized life. At each of these missions the 
Indians manufactured manias, terlinguas, sayales, 



♦This chapel after becoming a ruin, was repaired and rededi- 
cated to Our Lady of Lourdes, May 2, 1887. 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 167 

rebozos, fresadas, and other common apparel of wool 
and cotton. Each mission had its ranch some distance 
away where the stock was kept, with one or more 
store houses for the families of overseers, the neces- 
sary corrals, farming implements, carts and tools for 
carpentry, masonry and blacksmithing. 

Mission Concepcion, as a protection, had a stone 
wall with three gateways, as well as two bronze can- 
nons of an 8-inch caliber with a weight of three ar- 
rohas, eight libras (83 pounds each). The San Juan 
Mission had two swivel guns for defense, twenty mus- 
kets, and probably a wall. 

In the order of 1761 for a report from the various 
missions of New Spain, that rendered by the Quere- 
taran missionaries was far more satisfactory than that 
made for the Zacatecan missions, the former showing 
a steady spiritual growth since 1745. San Jose was 
especiaUy mentioned in this report as one of the most 
flourishing, both as to temporal and spiritual in- 
crease, that the college of Queretaro had had in the 
forty-one years of its establishment. 

Designed as frontier institutions, the missions were 
intended to be temporary. As soon as work was done 
on the frontier, the missionary was expected to pass 
on to another. In the theory of the law, within ten 
years each mission was to be turned over to the secu- 
lar charge and the common lands distributed among 
the Indians. But this law was based upon experience 
with the civilized natives of central Mexico and of 



168 San Antonio de Bexar 

Peru; on the northern frontier, among the barbarian 
tribes, a longer period of tutelage was always found 
necessary. 

On April 10th, 1794, the missions of Texas were or- 
dered secularized, by Don Pedro de Nava, command- 
ant-general of the North Eastern Internal Provinces, 
and the community system by which the Indians held 
their property was also ordered discontinued. These 
lands were partitioned among the Indian dependents, 
certain portions being set aside for the payment of 
government taxes. Thus the missionaries ceased ta 
have the administration of the Indians and their tem- 
poralities, and they became as other Spanish subjects^ 
responsible alone to the civil authority. That this de- 
cree of De Nava was not obeyed in all portions of 
Texas is proved by a decree of the Spanish cortes of 
September 13th, 1813, by which all the missions in 
Texas were ordered secularized. It was not known 
until September 15th, 1823, that the supreme govern- 
ment of Mexico ordered the execution of this decree. 
Finally in 1827, the legislature of Coahuila and Texas. 
divided out the mission lands. 

On September 30th, 1825, Father Francisco Maynea 
was made the last president of these missions, named 
Foreign Vicar by Senor Don D. Leon Lubo Guerrero, 
Vicar Capitular and administrator of the Diocese of 
Monterey. During this administration all the mis- 
sions and their lands were delivered by Father Maynesr 
to the Bishop of Monterey. These lands having been 



Historical, Traditional, Legendary. 169 

distributed to the Indians by suertes or lots, Bishop 
Odin bought back some of these suertes, and taxes on 
these lands have been paid by the church ever since. 
The state has never excluded the rights of the occu- 
pants, but recognized them, as proved by the law- 
suits gained by Bishop Odin in 1865.* 

Thus, briefly told, were created, flourished and died 
the missions of San Antonio's environs. Their loca- 
tion, once primeval, is being rapidly encroached upon 
hy the outstretching boundaries of what was once a 
hamlet arising around a cross planted by a conquer- 
ing expedition. It is now a magnificent city, made 
possible by the lonely and self-sacrificing work of the 
penitential monk. Its history is a wonderful fabric, 
woven as we have seen, from the fibre of the souls 
of its strong men and dyed in their life blood, mingled 
"with the tears of its noble women. 



*Wm. Corner's "San Antonio de Bexar" — (Right Rev. Bishop 
Neraz's Reminiscences.) 



